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V 



THE STERLING FURNACE 

AND THE 

WEST POINT CHAIN 

'2Vn IKutorlcal 'Address 

DELIVERED AT STERLING LAKE, ON SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1906, 

/~iXT rrXJ-p r\r^ri A C^ T r\-KT /^^TI rw^-r-rrr, ^-r^T-w^-r-^,^ - . . . . , 



With the compliments of 
cMacgrane Coxe 



•^•S*5i3'«0^i<5^ 



NEW YORK 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

1906 



THE STERLING FURNACE 

AND THE 

WEST POINT CHAIN 

'^n TKutorlcal '^d^res^ 

DELIVERED AT STERLING LAKE, ON SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1906, 
ON THE OCCASION OP THE UNVEILING OF A TABLET AT THAT PLACE BY 

THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION 
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FURNACE AND OF THE MAKING OP 
THE CHAIN 



BY 

MACGRANE COXE 




NEW YORK 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

1906 




Gift 
Author 
(Person) 

V. Je'07 



Mr. Chairman, Honored Regent and Ladies of the Daughters 
of the Revolution, Neighbors and Friends: 

WE are gathered here upon a most auspicious occasion. We 
are gathered here to perform a most salutary deed. It 
needs no reiteration, and yet, perhaps, it can never be said too 
often, that it is a matter of great good to our own souls and of 
great benefit to our common country, — not only now but for all 
time, — that we should, from time to time, gather together and 
commemorate with reverent minds, and with suitable monu- 
ments, those spots which are so blessed as to be particularly 
identified with the establishment and the development of our 
nation. 

Such is one of the primary purposes of the honorable society 
whose generous and patriotic gift of this beautiful tablet has 
brought us together to-day. In Article II of its constitution, these 
objects are stated as follows : 

''The objects of this society shall be to perpetuate the 
patriotic spirit of the men and women who achieved Amer- 
ican Independence ; to commemorate prominent events con- 
nected with the War of the Eevolution; to collect, publish 
and preserve the rolls, records and historic documents 
relating to that period, and to encourage the study of the 
Country's history." 

And so it was that, when the New York Chapter of the 
Daughters of the Revolution did me the honor to ask me to come 
here and lay before you something of the history of this old 
furnace and of this region in which we live, I felt it not only an 
honor but a duty to comply. 

As you will see by examining that tablet yonder, we are here 
to commemorate the establishment of one of the oldest iron and 



steel producing plants in the territory now of the United States ; 
but especially are we gathered here to commemorate and to 
celebrate the making of that great chain which, in April, 1778, 
our government laid across the Hudson River from West Point 
to Constitution Island, to prevent our then enemies, now happily 
our friends, from passing up the river in their ships to destroy 
our country. That this chain fully served the purposes for 
which it was intended is now matter of history. Another and 
earlier chain was broken, and other and earlier attempted ob- 
structions were destroyed, permitting the British to pass and to 
devastate as far as Kingston. But after April, 1778, no enemy 
ever passed, and this chain stood through to the glorious end. 

I think it is hardly appreciated by us of the present day how 
very important to the American cause the obstruction of the 
Hudson River was considered by General Washington and by 
all others having responsibility in our military affairs. A glance 
at the map will show what a central and important position the 
river occupied with reference to the colonies as they existed at 
that time. Practically, it cut them in two, so that the possession 
of the river by the British would have separated the New Eng- 
land and northern colonies from the middle and southern col- 
onies, and permitted the enemy to beat them in detail. Further 
than this, the possession of the river would have given com- 
paratively easy communication between the British in New York 
and the British in Canada; and I think that it is not an exag- 
geration to say that, but for the ultimate American control of 
the Hudson River, St. Leger and his Indian allies would have 
beaten Herkimer at Oriskany, Burgoyne would not have lost 
Saratoga, and the final triumph of the American cause would 
have been long delayed. 

That the importance of this subject was fully appreciated by 
both belligerent governments is abundantly manifest in the docu- 
ments of the day. I will not weary you by their detailed recital 
here. They are readily to be found in the libraries, in the 
Journals of Congress, and of the Provincial Legislatures, Pro- 
ceedings of Courts and other recorded documents. 



3 

Suffice it to say, that the matter was early taken up by the 
Continental Congress and urged by them upon the Legislature 
of the Colony of New York. 

On May 25, 1775, the Continental Congress passed the follow- 
ing resolution, which, with others, it on the next day communi- 
cated to the New York Legislature : 

''2. Resolved, that a post be also taken in the highlands, 
on each side of Hudson's river, and batteries erected in such 
manner as will most effectually prevent any vessels passing, 
that may be sent to harass the inhabitants on the borders 
of said river ; and that experienced persons be immediately 
sent to examine said river, in order to discover where it will 
be most advisable and proper to obstruct the navigation. "^ 

At that time the New York Legislature was known as the 
Provincial Congress ^ of the Colony of New York. 

The New York Convention took up the matter with great dil- 
igence and prosecuted it untiringly through the various defeats 
of its first efforts until it finally succeeded, by the building of 
this great chain. The New York Convention acted not only 
through its own body, but as early as the 16th of July, 1776, only 
a few days after the Declaration of Independence, it appointed 
a ''Secret Committee" to take charge of this whole subject, un- 
der a resolution which reads as follows : 

^'Resolved unanimously, that a secret committee be ap- 
pointed to devise and carry into execution such measures 
as to them shall appear most effectual for obstructing the 
channel of Hudson's river, or annoying the enemy's ships 
in their navigation up the said river; and that this Con- 
vention pledge themselves for defraying the charges in- 
cident thereto. 

^ Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 16. 

^ On July 10, 1776, the name of the Provincial Congress was changed, the fol- 
lowing being the resolution adopted upon that day: 

"Besolved and Ordered, that the style or title of this House be changed from 
that of 'the Provincial Congress of "the Colony of New York' to that of 'the 
Convention of the Eepresentatives of the State of New York.' " (Journal N Y 
Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 519.) 



Resolved, that Mr. Jay, Mr. Eobert Yates, Major Tappen, 
Mr. Robert R. Livingston, Mr. Gilbert Livingston and Mr. 
Paulding, be the said committee. ' ' ^ 

It is, I think, quite generally believed that there was only one 
chain stretched across the river, but this is an error. There was 
at least one other chain, proper, and altogether there were four 
places at which the river was sought to be obstructed by chains, 
booms, chevaux-de-frise, sunken vessels, fire-rafts, and other 
obstacles. The first was at Forts Washington and Lee, in the 
Summer of 1776; the second from Fort Montgomery to An- 
thony's Nose, in 1777; the third at Polopel's Island, opposite 
New Windsor, in the Autumn of 1776 and the Springs of 1777 
and 1778, and the fourth and last, the great chain from West 
Point to Constitution Island, which as we shall see was laid in 
place on the 30th day of April, 1778. 

The first obstruction attempted was by a line of chevaux-de- 
frise and sunken ships stretching across the river from Fort 
Lee to Fort Washington, which stood in what is now Fort Wash- 
ington Park, at about 178th Street, in the City of New York. 
They seem to have been completed during the summer of 1776, 
but they did not last long, and failed entirely of their purpose, 
as the British passed them on the 9th of October, 1776, without 
firing a gun. 

The great promptness with which Washington communicated 
this misfortune to the New York Convention indicates its im- 
portance in his mind ; and, from the phraseology of the letter of 
his aide-de-camp in communicating the same, the solicitude of 
Washington on the whole subject is plainly manifest. This 
letter, dated at Headquarters, Harlem Heights, Oct. 9th, 1776, 
the very day of the disaster, is as follows : 

'^ Head-Quarters, Harlem Heights, 9th Oct. 1776. 

"Gentn. About 8 o'clock this morning the Roebuck and 

Phoenix of 44 guns each and a frigate of about 20 guns got 

under way from about Bloomingdale, where they have been 

laying some time, and stood on with an easy southerly breeze 

' Journ. N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 526. 



towards our chevaux-de-frise, which we hoped would have 
given them some interruption while our batteries played 
upon them; but to our surprise and mortification they all 
ran through without the least difficulty, and without re- 
ceiving any apparent damage from our forts which kept 
playing on them from both sides of the river. How far they 
entered up I do not know, but His Excellency thought fit 
to give you the earliest information, that you may put Gen- 
eral Clinton on his guard at the Highlands, for they may 
have troops concealed on board with intent to surprise those 
forts. If you have any stores on the water side, you had 
better have them removed or secured in time; boards espe- 
cially, for which we shall be put to great straights if the 
communication above should be cut off. The enemy have 
made no move on the land side. I am, gent. 

Your most obdt. servt. Tench Tilghman." 

**Be pleased to forward this intelligence up the river and 
to Albany. The two new ships are put in near Colo. 
Philips 's. A party of artillery with 2 twelve-pounders and 
XOO riflemen are sent up to endeavor to secure them." 
"Honble. Committee of Correspondence, State of N. York."^ 

Efforts to obstruct the Hudson were, however, not retarded, 
but rather were accelerated by this disaster, and the second ob- 
struction attempted was by a chain with boom stretched from 
Fort Montgomery to Anthony's Nose. This chain is sometimes 
confused with the great chain at West Point, and this confusion 
has led to more or less misconception. There is, however, no 
longer any room for doubt upon the subject. The documentary 
evidence is clear, beyond a shadow of doubt. The character and 
size of the Fort Montgomery chain is well known and differs 
essentially from that at West Point. Mr. E. M. Ruttenber, of 
Newburgh, in a very interesting paper upon the subject of the 
obstructions of the Hudson River at this time, gives a drawing 
of this chain and its defenses, which he says is a copy from an 
original map found among the papers of the Secret Committee, 
which clearly shows the position and the character of the chain.^ 

» Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. II, p. 254. 

'"Obstructions to the Navigation of Hudson's River," E. M. Ruttenber, 
Albany, N. Y., 1860, p. 64. 



This chain, although well made and of good iron, was much 
lighter than the West Point chain, and, as will be seen, did not 
stand the strain put upon it. The greater part of it was made 
at or near Ticonderoga and was intended to obstruct the Sorel 
River, the outlet of Lake Champlain. When the matter of the 
Fort Montgomery chain was taken up, however, it was directed 
to be brought to Poughkeepsie, consigned to Messrs. Van Zante, 
Lawrence and Tudor, iron workers, who there manufactured 
enough more chain to completely cross the river. 

On July 25th, 1776, the Secret Committee, sitting at Pough- 
keepsie, directed that General Schuyler should be requested to 
send down the chain, and that bar iron of about I14 inches 
square should be made to complete its length.^ 

A letter was at once sent by the Committee to General 
Schuyler at Albany, which is as follows : 

''Sir: The enclosed copy of some late resolutions of the 
Convention of the State of New York will inform you, that 
we are a Committee of that body and charged with the 
execution of the business mentioned in them. 

"As the chain intended to obstruct the River Sorel can- 
not now be applied to that use, and will serve to prevent the 
enemy's ships from going beyond the Hook on Hudson's 
River, we must beg the favor of you to send it (the whole or 
such parts of it as may expeditiously be had) to Pough- 
keepsie and consigned to Messrs. Van Zante, Lawrence and 
Tudor, with the utmost despatch. 

"Be pleased to inform those gentlemen of the length of 
such part of the chain as you can send, in order that they 
may direct the deficiency to be supplied. 

' ' We shall, by this opportunity, request of the Committee 
of Albany immediately to furnish us with 150 saw logs of 

*"Itis proposed and agreed to, that a boom be drawn across the Hudson's 
Eiver at the Highlands. That an express be sent General Schuyler for the chain 
intended to be thrown across the River Sorrel, to be employed for the above 
purpose; and as it may fall short of the distance required, it is farther concluded 
to apply to Col. Livingston to make, until countermanded by this Committee, a 
quantity of bar iron of about 1% inches square, and to be sent from time to 
time to the works at Poughkeepsie. ' ' 

In the margin of this minute is the following memorandum: 

"For 600 yds. or 1800 feet of chain, you want 4800 foot of bar iron in length." 
(Papers of the Secret Committee MSS., State Library, Albany,) 



the largest size to support the chain; and we flatter our- 
selves that your attention and influence will be extended to 
both these objects. 

''We have the honor to be, sir, with the greatest esteem 
and respect, etc., etc., etc."^ 

The chain was accordingly sent,^ and the completion of it was 
pushed with all vigor. On September 27th, the Secret Committee 
by formal resolution ''ordered and requested" the blacksmiths 
engaged on the works "to proceed with all possible dispatch in 
making and completing the chain. "^ 

The minutes of a meeting of the Committee, held at Fort 
Constitution, on Oct. 14th, show that they were already consider- 
ing a chain at that point, but concluded in favor of Fort Mont- 
gomery because there were no works at West Point to defend 
a chain, and the season was too far advanced to permit of these 
being constructed before the winter set in ; and that it was, there- 
fore, decided that Captain Machin should immediately set the 
chain at the former place. 

"Considering that there are no works erected at this post 
that can defend the chain proposed to be stretched across 
the river here, and the impracticability of executing any in 
season for the above purpose, and believing that the river 
at Fort Montgomery in the narrowest place is but 1600 feet 
wide, which exceeds the width of the river here but 100 feet, 
therefore, 

"Resolved, That Mr. Machin immediately prepare a place 
on each side the river at Ft. Montgomery to fasten the ends 
of the intended chain to ; that he place two or three guns in 
the small breastwork to be erected for that purpose on the 
flat place just under the north end of the grand battery, 
where the fire-rafts now lay; also a small work, if time per- 
mit, near the water edge on the south side of Poplopen's 
Kill."* 

The precise date at which this chain was actually stretched 
across the river is nowhere given. The foregoing minute shows, 
however, that it was nearly ready on October 14th, and the fol- 

^ Papers of the Secret Committee MSS., State Library, Albany. 

' Minutes of Secret Committee, Ihid., Aug. 13, 1776. 

^ Ihid., Sept. 27, 1776. * lUd., Oct. 14, 1776. 



8 

lowing resolution, passed by the Convention itself, on October 
22d, confirms the fact : 

'^ Resolved, That Mr. Gilbert Livingston, one of the Secret 
Committee, be directed to be sent down with the utmost 
despatch to Fort Montgomery, with such parts of the chain 
as is fixed in the logs, and that Mr. Henry Wisner, Junr., 
cooperate with him in carrying this measure into execution 
in the most safe and expeditious manner possible."^ 

The next reference we have to the chain is on November 28th, 
1776. On that day the New York Convention reported to the 
Continental Congress that the chain had been put in place, and 
had broken twice after holding only a few hours. They say: 

''In projecting the obstruction between Anthony's Nose 
on the eastern shore and Fort Montgomery, we endeavored 
to avail ourselves of the model of that which had proved 
effectual in the Delaware River, and were assisted by the 
advice and experience of Capt. Hazelwood. But the great 
length of the chain, being upwards of 1,800 feet, the bulk of 
the logs which were necessary to support it, the immense 
weight of water which it accumulated, and the rapidity of 
the tide, have baffled all our efforts. It separated twice, 
after holding only a few hours ; and we have too much reason 
to despair of its ever fully answering the important pur- 
pose for which it was constructed. "^ 

From the foregoing it appears certain that the Fort Mont- 
gomery chain was put in place some time between October 22d 
and November 28th, and that it was found much too light for the 
purpose for which it was intended. 

As the winter was at hand, and the chain, of course, was not 
needed while the river was frozen over, the time was occupied 
in repairing and strengthening it. It was finally placed across 
the river about the 23rd of March, 1777. It seems then to have 
met with no difficulty from the weight of the current and to have 

* Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 686. ^ 
' Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 723. 



stood in its place until it was captured by the British. This cap- 
ture was accomplished by an expedition under Sir Henry Clinton 
himself, which passed up the river on the 4th of October, 1777, 
and attacked and reduced Forts Clinton and Montgomery on the 
7th of that month. The enemy captured and carried away the 
chain, as they seem to have done pretty much everything else 
in the vicinity. In Beatson's "Naval and Military Memoirs of 
Great Britain," published in London in 1804, Vol. IV, page 236, 
after an extended description of the capture of Fort Mont- 
gomery, we find the following : 

''Besides their forts, ships and cannon, a sloop of ten 
guns was taken. Every article belonging to their labor- 
atory, which was in the greatest perfection, their stores, 
such as port-fires, match-harness, spare gun-carriages, tools, 
instruments, a large quantity of provisions and a boom and 
chain which ran across the river from Fort Montgomery to 
St. Anthony's Nose, and which is supposed to have cost 
£70,000 fell into the hands of the conquerors. This chain 
was of most excellent workmanship. It was sent to England 
and from there to Gibraltar, where it was of great use in 
protecting the shipping at the Moles." 

Thus failed the second attempt. Immediately thereafter, the 
British fleet, having broken this obstruction, sailed directly to 
Kingston and burned that town, October 15th, 1777. The im- 
mense importance of the subject was now more than ever ap- 
parent to the military commanders and to the people. Obstruc- 
tions in the nature of chevaux-de-frise were set up at Polopel's 
Island and fire-ships and fire-rafts were kept there in readiness 
to be floated down against any of the enemy's ships that might 
attempt to pass. These appear not to have been ever considered 
of very serious moment, however, and were not completed until 
about the time the great chain was contracted for. Thus we find 
Governor Clinton writing under date of January 17th, 1778: 

' ' I would advise, that the Chevaux-de-Frize be completed 
under the directions of Capt. Machin, who has hitherto had 



10 

the management of that business. He knows how many are 
yet wanted and where to be sunk, so as to perfect the ob- 
structions."^ 



This was on January 17th, 1778, and the contract for the mak- 
ing of the great chain, as we shall see, was executed on the 2d day 
of February, 1778. 

Immediately after the return of Sir Henry Clinton's expedi- 
tion from Kingston to New York, the more thorough fortification 
of the Highlands was undertaken with more vigor than ever. 
The importance with which General Washington looked upon 
the subject, is made manifest by a letter which he wrote on 
December 2d, 1777, to General Putnam. It is as follows : 

"Headquarters, 2. Dec. 1777. 
"Dear Sir: The importance of the Hudson river in the 
present contest, and the necessity of defending it, are sub- 
jects which have been so frequently and fully discussed, and 
are so well understood, that it is unnecessary to enlarge 
upon them. These facts at once appear, when it is con- 
sidered that it runs through a whole state; that it is the 
only passage by which the enemy from New York, or any 
part of our coast, can ever hope to co-operate with an army 
from Canada ; that the possession of it is indispensably es- 
sential to preserve the communication between the eastern, 
middle and southern states ; and further, that upon its secur- 
ity, in a great measure, depend our chief supplies of flour 
for the subsistence of such forces as we may have occasion 
for in the course of the war, either in the eastern or north- 
ern departments, or in the country lying high up on the west 
side of it. These facts are familiar to all ; they are familiar 
to you. I therefore request you, in the most urgent terms, 
to turn your most serious and active attention to this in- 
finitely important object, seize the present opportunity, and 
employ your whole force and all the means in your power 
for erecting and completing, as far as it shall be possible, 
such works and obstructions as may be necessary to defend 
and secure the river against any future attempts of the 
enemy. You will consult Governor Clinton, General Par- 

^ Euttenber's "Obstructions in the Hudson," p. 114. 



11 

sons, and the French engineer, Colonel Radiere, upon the 
occasion. By gaining the passage, you know the enemy 
have already laid waste and destroyed all the houses, mills 
and towns accessible to them. Unless proper measures are 
taken to prevent them, they will renew their ravages in the 
spring, or as soon as the season will admit, and perhaps 
Albany, the only town in the state of any importance re- 
maining in our hands, may undergo a like fate and a gen- 
eral havoc and devastation take place. 

' ' To prevent these evils, therefore, I shall expect that you 
will exert every nerve and employ your whole force, in 
future, while and whenever it is practicable, in constructing 
and forwarding the proper works and means of defence. 
The troops must not be kept out on command, and acting in 
detachments to cover the country below, which is a con- 
sideration infinitely less important and interesting. 
"I am, dear sir, &c. &c. 

"Geoege Washhstgton."^ 

General Putnam, of course, took the matter up most ener- 
getically and communicated on the subject with the Convention 
of New York, as will be seen by the following resolution of that 
body, passed on Thursday, January 8th, 1778: 

"Application being made by Major General Putnam, 
Commanding Officer of the Middle Department, that this 
Convention would appoint a committee to confer with him 
relative to the necessary works to be constructed for the 
defence of the passes in the Highlands, 

"Resolved, that the General's request be complied with, 
and that Mr. Scott, Mr. Pawling, Mr. Wisner, Mr. Snyder, 
Mr. Killian Van Rensselaer, Mr. Drake, Mr. Hathorn and 
Mr. Hoffman, be a committee for that purpose. ''^ 

And on the following day, January 9th, 1778, we find the fol- 
lowing resolution, the first one passed upon that day : 

*' General Scott, from the committee appointed yesterday 
evening, to confer with General Putnam, General James 

* Writings of George Washington, edited by Worthington C. Ford, Vol. VI, 
p. 231. 

* Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 1113. 



12 

Clinton, lieutenant-colonel of engineers and other military 
officers, relative to the necessary works to be constructed 
for the passes in the Highlands, and the place or places 
where the same ought to be erected, reported that they had 
conferred with the said generals and said officers; that on 
such conference there was a disagreement in sentiment be- 
tween those gentlemen (arising from certain different facts 
alleged) as to the place where such works ought to be 
erected; and therefore that it was the opinion of the said 
committee and the military gentlemen, that this convention 
appoint commissioners to view the several passes on Hud- 
son River, with the generals and other officers, and advise 
in fixing the places . where such fortifications should be 
erected. 

*' Resolved, that John Sloss Hobart, Esqr., one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court, the Honble. Robt. R. Liv- 
ingston, Chancellor of this State, Mr. Piatt, Mr. Wisner and 
Colonel Hathorn be, and hereby are, appointed commis- 
sioners for the purpose above mentioned, and proceed on 
that business with all possible despatch."^ 

The report of this committee, composed of such distinguished 
gentlemen, is so interesting that it ought to be given in full. It 
is dated Poughkeepsie, January 14th, 1778, was submitted to 
the Provincial Convention in session at that place on that day, 
and is as follows: 

"Your committee, who were sent to ascertain the place for 
fixing a chain and erecting fortifications for obstructing 
the navigation of Hudson's river, beg leave to report: That 
they have carefully viewed the ground on which Fort Clin- 
ton lately stood and its environs, and find that the ground 
is so intersected with long, deep hollows, that the enemy 
might approach, without any annoyance, from the garrison 
within the fort, to within a few yards of the walls, unless a 
redoubt should be raised to clear the hollow next the fort, 
which must be built at such a distance from the fort that it 
could not be supported from thence in case of an assault, so 
that the enemy might make themselves masters of the re- 
doubt the first dark night after their landing, which would 

* Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 1113. 



13 

be a good work, ready to their hand, for annoying the fort 
and facilitating their operations against it; and, together 
with the eminences and broken grounds within a short dis- 
tance of the fort, would render it impossible for the garrison 
to resist a general assault for many hours together. 

"Another objection that appeared to the committee was 
the want of earth on the spot, which would reduce the en- 
gineer to the necessity of erecting his works entirely of 
timber, which must be brought to Pooploop's Kill [Pop- 
lopen's Creek] in rafts, and from thence drawn up a steep 
and difficult road to the top of the hill. The rafts can not 
be made till the water is warm enough for men to work in 
it, by which it is probable that a fort can not be erected be- 
fore the ships of the enemy will come up the river. Besides, 
at this place, the chain must be laid across the river so that 
it will receive the whole force of the ships coming with all 
the strength of tide and wind, on a line of 3 or 4 miles. Add 
to these, if the enemy should be able to possess themselves 
of the passes in the mountains, through which they march 
to the attacks of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, it would 
be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the militia of 
the country to raise the siege. 

* ' Upon viewing the country at and about West Point, the 
committee found that there were several places at which the 
enemy might land and proceed immediately to some high 
grounds that would command a fort erected at West Point 
at the distance of six or seven hundred yards, from which 
they might carry on their approaches through a light grav- 
elly soil, so that it would be impossible for the fort to stand 
a long siege. But to balance this advantage, in this place, 
there is plenty of earth. The timber may be brought to the 
spot by good roads from the high grounds at the distance 
of one to three miles. 

' ' 300 feet less of chain will be requisite at this place than 
at Fort Clinton. It will be laid across in a place where ves- 
sels going up the river most usually lose their headway. 
Water batteries may be built on both sides of the river for 
protecting the chain and annoying the ships coming up the 
river, which will be completely commanded from the walls 
of the fort. There are so many passes across the mountains 
to this place, that it will be almost impossible for the enemy 
to prevent the militia from coming to the relief of the gar- 



14 

rison. From these considerations, the committee are led to 
conclude that the most proper place to obstruct the naviga- 
tion of the river is at West Point ; but are at the same time 
fully convinced that no obstructions on the banks of the 
river can effectually secure the country, unless a body of 
light troops, to consist of at least 2,000 effective men, be 
constantly stationed in the mountains while the navigation 
of the river is practicable, to obstruct the enemy in their 
approach by land."^ 

No time was lost in following this advice. Captain Thos. 
Machin, already, as we have seen, recommended by Governor 
Clinton, was put in full charge of the work.^ 

Under him was Hugh Hughes, Deputy Quarter-Master Gen- 
eral of the army. Col. Timothy Pickering, then president of the 
Board of War, that is to say, substantially the head of the war 
department of the Confederated Colonies, took especial interest 
in the subject. At the direction of Washington, he took up the 
matter with Mr. Peter Townsend, proprietor of the Sterling Iron 
Works, then residing temporarily at Chester in Orange 
County, with a view of ascertaining whether it would 
not be practicable to manufacture a chain strong enough 

^ Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 1117. 

^ Thomas Machin was a good deal of a man. He was born in Staffordshire, 
England, March 20, 1744, and was employed by Brindley in constructing the 
canal of the Duke of Bridgewater. Afterwards he made a voyage to the East 
Indies and in 1772 he came to the Colonies for the purpose of examining a 
copper mine in New Jersey. He later took up his residence in Boston, and, 
espousing the popular feeling of the time, made one of the Boston Tea Party. 
He was wounded at Bunker Hill. On Jan. 18, 1776, he was commissioned second 
lieutenant of artillery in Col. Knox's regiment, and was employed from April 
to June of that year in laying out the fortifications for the defence of the town 
and harbor of Boston. Later he was, by direction of General Washington, 
appointed to act as engineer under Gov. Clinton in constructing the fortifications 
and obstructions of the Hudson River in the Highlands. He was wounded at 
the capture of Forts Montgomery and Clinton Oct. 7th, 1777, but immediately 
upon his recovery, was again actively engaged in repairing the damages which 
the British had done the forts, and on the obstructions of the river. In the 
fall of 1781, he aided in laying out the works of the American army then be- 
sieging Yorktown. In August, 1782, he married Susan, daughter of James Van 
Nostrand, of Huntington, L. I. (Simm's History of Schoharie County. ) 



15 

to withstand the strain and shock, and, at the same time, not so 
heavy as to render its handling impossible, so as to effectually 
prevent the passage of any ship then known. Mr. Townsend 
replied that he thought it could be done. The order was given. 
Work was immediately begun. And this tremendous chain five 
hundred yards in length and said to have weighed 186 tons was 
ready for delivery to the Government by April 1st, the time fixed 
in the contract.^ 

This chain was made for the government under a written 
agreement, which is now among the Clinton Papers in the New 
York State Library. It was dated February 2d, 1778, was ex- 
ecuted by Peter Townsend, on behalf of Noble, Townsend & Co. 
(the then trade name of the proprietors of the Sterling Iron 
Works), and by Hugh Hughes, on behalf of the United States. 
It is as follows: 

''Articles of Agreement between Noble, Townsend & 
Company, Proprietors of the Sterling Iron Works, in the 
State of New York, of the one part, and Hugh Hughes, 
D. Q. M. G. of the United States, of the other part, 

' ' WITNESSETH : 

"That the said Noble, Townsend & Company, jointly and 

^Lossing, in his Field Book (published in 1852), Vol. II, p. 137, states as fol- 
lows: 

' ' The Stirling works are still in operation. They are situated on the outlet 
of Stirling pond, about 5 miles southwest of the Sloatsburg station on the Erie 
Eailway. They are owned by the descendants of Peter Townshend [sic], and have 
been in operation about 100 years, having been established in 1751 by Lord 
Stirling (the revolutionary general) and others. Gordon and other early writers 
have promulgated the erroneous opinion that this chain was constructed in 1777, 
and was destroyed by the British fleet that passed up the Hudson and burned 
Kingston in October of that year. Misled by these authorities, I have published 
the same error in my Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six. Documentary evi- 
dence, which is far more reliable than the best tradition, shows that the chain 
was constructed in the spring of 1778. Colonel Timothy Pickering, accompanied 
by Captain Machin, arrived at the house of Mr. Townshend [sic] late on a Sat- 
urday night in March * of that year to engage him to make the chain. Town- 
shend [sic] readily agreed to construct it; and in a violent snow-storm, amid 
the darkness of the night, the party set out for the Stirling Iron Works. At 
daylight on Sunday morning the forges were in operation. New England team- 
sters carried the links, as fast as they were finished, to West Point, and in the 
space of six weeks the whole chain was completed. It weighed 180 tons. ' ' 

* It must have been earlier, since the contract was dated February 2d. 



16 

severally engage to have made and ready to deliver at their 
works, to the said Hugh Hughes, D. Q. M. G., or to the 
D. Q. M. G. of the middle department for the time being, on 
or before the first day of April next ensuing the date hereof, 
or as much sooner as circumstances will admit, an iron chain 
of the following dimensions and quality, that is, in length, 
500 yards— each link about 2 feet long, to be made of the 
best Sterling iron, two inches and one quarter square, or 
as near thereto as possible, with a swivel to every 100 feet 
and a clevis to every thousand feet, in the same manner as 
those of the former chain. 

''The said Noble, Townsend & Company also engage to 
have made and ready to be delivered at least 12 tons of 
anchors of the aforesaid iron, and of such sizes as the said 
Hugh Hughes, or his successors in office, shall direct, in 
writing, as soon as the completion of the chain will admit. 

''In consideration of which, the said Hugh Hughes, in 
behalf of the United States, agrees to pay to the said Noble, 
Townsend & Company, or their order, at the rate of £440 
for every ton weight of chain and anchors,^ delivered as 
before mentioned, unless the general regulations on trade, 
provisions, &c., which are now supposed to be framed by 
deputies from the United States shall be published and take 
effect before the expiration of four months from the date 
of this ; in which case the price is to be only £400 per ton for 
the said chain and anchors. The payment, if demanded, to 
be made in such proportion as the work shall be ready to 
be delivered, which shall be determined in ten days after 
requisition made by a number of competent judges, not less 
than three nor more than five, unconcerned with the pro- 
prietors, or the works, and if condemned, to be completed at 
the expense of the said company, who are also to repair, 
as aforesaid, all failures of their work, whenever happen- 
ing, whether at the works or river, or in extending it across. 

"The said Hugh Hughes also engages to procure of the 
government of this state, for the said Noble, Townsend & 
Company, an exemption for nine months from the date here- 
of, from military duty for sixty artificers that are steadily 
employed at the said chain and anchors, till completed. 
Agreeable to the said exemption, the said company comply- 
ing with the terms thereof; providing, also, that the said 

Undoubtedly continental money." 



-~T^ 






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J) 

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^ 



THE STERLING FURNACE IN 1797 



17 

company give the said Hugh Hughes, or his successors in 
office, the refusal, by letter, of all the bar iron, anchors, &c., 
made at the said works in the said term of nine months, at 
the current price, less what is necessary to exchange for 
clothing and other articles for the use of the works. It is 
also agreed, by the said parties, that if the teams of the said 
company shall transport the said chain or anchors, or any 
part thereof, to any assigned post, they shall receive for 
such services the same pay as shall be given by the U. S. 
for the like ; the teams of the company being exempted from 
impress by any of the Q. M. G. 's deputies during the space 
of nine months. 

'' Lastly, the said company engage to use their utmost 
endeavors to keep seven fires at forging and ten at welding, 
if assisted with such hands as are necessary and can be 
spared from the army, in case of their not being able to 
procure others, the said company making deduction for their 
labor. 

"In witness whereof, the parties have interchangeably 
subscribed their names this 2nd day of February, one thou- 
sand seven hundred and seventy-eight, in the second year 
of American Independence. 

"Peter Townsend, in behalf of Noble & Company. 
"Hugh Hughes, in behalf of the U. S. 

"In Presence of, 

"P. Tillinghast."! 

It will be noticed that in this contract the character of the 
chain is described with some particularity. The links called for 
are to be "about two feet long" and the bar iron of which they 
were to be made was to be " about 2^4 inches square ' ' and '■ ' of the 
best Sterling iron. ' ' It will be remembered that the iron in the 
Fort Montgomery chain was but about 1% inches square.^ 

As a matter of fact, as the work progressed, it was real- 
ized that, since the strain on the chain would be greater at some 
portions of it than at others, it would be advisable to have some 
of the links heavier than the contract called for, and accordingly 
some were made of iron as large as 3i/2 inches square and meas- 

* Clinton Papers, New York State Library. 
' Supra, p. 6. 



18 

uring as much as 3i/^ feet in length. This chain, like that at Fort 
Montgomery, was supported in the river by large logs as rafts, 
so that it floated but a few feet below the surface of the river. 
The chain was finally set in place on April 30, 1778. There is 
plenty of documentary evidence to this effect. Machin's expense 
account shows that he kept a careful record of his expenses from 
day to day, giving the date for which each payment was made 
and the purpose. In this account we find the following entries : 
"March 26, [1778] expences [sic] to Sterling, £1.10.6; April 30, 
While Getting the New Chain across £0.11.0." And Governor 
Clinton, in a letter on the subject to Governor Jonathan Trum- 
bull of Connecticut, dated Poughkeepsie, May 1st, 1778, said: 

* ' The chain which exceeds the old one in point of strength 
was drawn across the river at West Point on the 30th of last 
month, but the works for its defence at that place, though 
in good forwardness, are far from being complete."^ 

Fortunately we are not confined to contemporary records 
for a description of this chain, as quite a considerable portion of 
it has been preserved. There are, as you know, a number of 
links with clevis and swivel at West Point. These links are of 
the smaller size. A considerable portion of the chain, when 
taken up, was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where it re- 
mained for a great many years. Some of this portion was pur- 
chased by the late Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, and is now upon 
the lawn at Ringwood, and ten links are at the writer's home 
at Southfield. Both of these are of the larger links. Two links 
are in the State Library at Albany and two in the possession 
of Prof. Peter Townsend Austen of Staten Island, the great- 
grandson of the manufacturer. 

As is well known, this chain was never broken and stood its 
service until the declaration of peace. It was, as we have seen, 
very much stronger than the Fort Montgomery chain, but also, 
upon the advice of the committee of the Convention, had a great 

* Public Papers of George Clinton, War of the Eevolution Series, compiled by 
Hon. Hugh Hastings, State Historian, Vol. Ill, p. 246. 



19 

advantage in position as compared with the latter chain. The 
river, as you know, as it flows down toward West Point takes a 
sharp bend to the East by Constitution Island, and then quickly 
another sharp bend to the Southward. It was midway of this 
bend, as the river flows nearly East and West, that this chain 
was stretched, and the result was that any ship sailing up from 
the South, or, indeed, down from the North (although they were 
not feared from that direction) was bound to make a tack from 
a point very little distant from the chain, the result being that 
any such vessel would of necessity approach the chain with 
very much diminished headway. 

The iron of which this chain was made seems to have been of 
a very superior grade. You will have noticed that the contract 
specifies that it should be ''made of the best Sterling iron." 
That this iron had a high reputation is shown by a letter written 
by Hughes to the New York Convention on April 9th, 1777. It 
appears that the Government was already at that time purchas- 
ing iron and steel from Sterling (as indeed it was from other 
furnaces and forges in the Highlands),^ and that in order that 
deliveries might not be delayed, the workmen engaged in the 
works were exempted from military duty. In this letter Hughes 
urges the Convention to grant the necessary exemption for this 
purpose. He says that "the reputation of their [Noble, Town- 
send & Co.'s] iron is such that General Knox desired that I 
would purchase no other for the use of the laboratory and train, 
nor will any other that has been tried in our department bear 
plating [beating into a plate] for spades, &c., so well as theirs 
does. Nor is their steel less necessary. . . ."^ 

^ Page 21, infra. 

"Fishkill, April 9, 1877. 

'"Sir: Having been ordered by General Mifflin and General Knox to purchase 
about a hundred tons of iron, manufactured at Sterling Iron Works, I accord- 
ingly applied to Messrs. Noble, Townsend & Co., who informed me that they 
cannot furnish near that quantity unless their workmen can be exempted from 
detachments and other military duties, and desire that they may be empowered 
by your Honble. House, to protect, at least, as many as are absolutely necessary 
for the use of the service. 

The reputation of their iron is such that General Knox desired that I would 
purchase no other for the use of the laboratory and train, nor will any other that 
has heeii tried in our department hear plating for spades, ^c, so well as theirs does. 



20 

The ore used was mined in about equal quantities from Sterling 
mine, which is there before your eyes, and from the Long mine, 
which lay about a mile to the northeast. It was smelted in this 
furnace, and, of course, as you understand, here made into ''pig 
iron. ' ' The pig iron was then forged, that is, wrought, into bar- 
iron of the required dimensions, in the Sterling forge, which stood 
about two miles down the stream, very near where the old 
Sterling district school-house still stands; and this bar-iron 
was thereafter welded into links. As you will appreciate, on 
account of its great weight, the chain had to be taken to the 
river in sections. It was taken over the mountains on mule back 
and in ox carts, two or three or more links at a time, and was 
there welded together, with the proper swivels and clevises, at 
several forges situated along the river near New Windsor and 
West Point. Thus it was that these other forges contributed, in 
their proper measure, to the completion of this great work. 

At last, a barrier had been devised which was adequate to the 
purpose for which it was designed. It remained where placed 
until the Autumn of 1783, when it was taken up unbroken and 
in good order.^ No British ship ever passed it; the efforts of 
the enemy to gain possession of the Hudson Eiver were finally 
and for ever defeated; the American Colonies were never dis- 

Nor is their steel less necessary, having contracted for several tons, which ought 
to have been delivered before now, but has been delayed on account of their 
hands being drawn out on sundry occasions. 

If the Honourable Convention can devise any means to forward the services, 
I am very sensible that the reflection will be a far greater inducement than 
anything which can be offered by me, and beg the affair may be communicated 
in such manner and time as will be most agreeable to them and yourself, air, 
I am, with great regard, sir, 

Your most obdt. and very humble servt. 

Hugh Hughes, D.M.G. 

The Honble., the President of the Convention of the State of New York." 

(Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. II, p. 431.) 

[The writer has been informed (although he has never verified the fact) that, 
so good has the reputation of the Sterling Iron continued to be, that for a long 
l)criod, extending from almost the beginning of the Government and down to 
the end of the Civil War, the printed forms of contracts for certain iron and 
steel work for the Government had printed in them words substantially as fol- 
lows: "of which per cent, shall be of Sterling iron"; indicating, of course, 

that for all such work Sterling iron was always desired, the only thing left unde- 
termined being the precise proportion of it.] 

^ Eager 's "Orange Co.," p. 567.) 



21 

united; the British armies of Canada and of New York never 
joined, and I think it may not be an unfair thing to say that the 
deed we are here to-day to celebrate was by no means one of the 
minor circumstances which contributed to the success of the 
Revolution and the establishment of this Government. 

The Sterling Iron Works were, however, by no means the 
only iron works which contributed to the revolutionary cause. 
As we have seen, a portion of the Fort Montgomery chain was 
made at Poughkeepsie^ which seems to have been made from 
iron from Salisbury Furnace in Connecticut and of bar-iron 
made by Col. Livingston.^ 

Iron was made for the defence of the Highlands at Queens- 
boro Furnace near Fort Montgomery from ore from the Forest 
of Dean Mine, which, as you know, is situated on the road lead- 
ing from Central Valley to West Point ; and you will find that 
considerable iron was also furnished to the Government by the 
mines and works at Ringwood, then owned by Robert Erskine, 
and afterward and now the property of the late Hon. Abram S. 
Hewitt and his family. 

You will find, hanging, framed, at Washington's Headquarters 
at Newburgh in Room B, a bill of ^'Robert Erskine of Ringwood 
to Capt. Thos. Machin and John Nicoll for the U. S." for £5,000 
for clips, links and bolts furnished by the Ringwood Works to 
the Government. This bill is dated 1777 and gives the dates of 
the various deliveries of the material referred to in it, and the 
last delivery is dated November 1st, 1777.^ 

^ Supra, p. 6. 

' Supra, p. 6. 

^ The Hon. Abram S. Hewitt was under the impression for many years that 
the great chain had been forged at Eingwood. In the spring of 1899, however, 
I laid before Mr. Hewitt some of the evidence herein set forth, whereupon 
Mr. Hewitt at once admitted that the greater part of it, at least, could not 
have been there forged. He said that when he purchased the Eingwood estate, 
there was a large link on the property, which Mr. Peter Eyerson (from whom 
he purchased the property) pointed to as evidence that the chain was in part 
forged at Eingwood; also that this link was sent to the Centennial Exposition 
in 1876 and was never returned. [Letter of Mr. Hewitt, April 29, 1899.] I 
have been unable to find any evidence, documentary or otherwise, that any 



22 

You have done me the honor to ask me, besides setting forth 
what was ascertainable about the great chain, to say something 
with respect to the history of this old furnace and of the locality 
in which it stands. 

You have stated in the tablet, which you have just unveiled, that 
this furnace was built upon this spot in 1751. This, it is true, 
is the earliest date at which any mention of an iron furnace 
proper has yet been found, but that "iron works/' known as 
the "Sterling Iron Works" existed at this spot at a consider- 
ably earlier period than that time, is certain. It is shown, be- 
yond a peradventure of a doubt, from the field book of the 
great surveyor, Charles Clinton (a great and good man and the 
progenitor of great and good men)^ who made a remarkable 
survey of this whole region of country between the years 1735 
and 1749. In this book he several times, as early as 1745 at 
least, mentions the fact that iron works were situated here 
known as the Sterling Iron Works. 

A few words about this survey will not be uninteresting. It 
covers a tract of land comprising a large proportion of the 
southern part of the County of Orange, known as the patent of 
Cheescocks. This patent had been granted by Maungomach, 
Shawgus and other native Indian proprietors in 1702 ^ and was 
confirmed by letters patent of Queen Anne bearing date the 25th 

of the links were forged at Eingwood. It will be seen that the bill above 
mentioned, representing materials furnished prior to the undertaking of the 
chain, is not evidence to this effect. It is not, however, at all impossible that 
some of the links may have been forged at Eingwood. As we have seen, extra- 
ordinary expedition in completing the chain was absolutely necessary. The 
relations between the Sterling and Eingwood Iron Works were close and friendly. 
And it is not at all unlikely that some of the links may have been forged at 
Eingwood for Sterling. 

^ Charles Clinton came to this country from Dublin, Ireland, in May, 1729, 
and settled at New Windsor, Orange County, New York, in the spring of 1731. 
Besides his work as a surveyor, he was appointed judge of the Common Pleas 
Court. He was the father of George Clinton, Governor of New York and Vice 
President of the United States, and of General James Clinton, so distinguished 
in the revolutionary war, and the grandfather of Governor DeWitt Clinton. 

'Deed dated Dec. 30, 1702, recorded in Orange County Clerk's oflSce, June 1st, 
1736, in liber B, No. 2, fols. 432-453. 



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^4^1 



CHARLES CLINTON'S FIELD-BOOK 
Page 321 



23 

day of March, 1707.^ In the year 1735, this tract was owned by a 
number of proprietors by a title which is known to the lawyers 
as title in common, that is to say, no one of the proprietors 
owned any particular parcel of the land alone, but all of them 
owned an undivided interest in all the land. The law at the 
time provided that, if it was desired to partition the tract among 
the several owners, they might do so by causing it to be sur- 
veyed, mapped and allotted in some fair manner, among them- 
selves, and that upon the filing of said survey, map and allotment, 
sworn to as correct before a justice of the Supreme Court, in 
the office of the Secretary of the Colony, each several owner 
would become the owner in fee of the particular lot or lots so 
apportioned to him.^ 

Acting under this authority, the owners of the patent of 
Cheescocks applied to Charles Clinton to make a survey of the 
tract and to allot it in fair proportions among the respective 
owners. This survey, as is shown by the field book, was begun 
on April 1st, 1735, and was finished on or before the 13th day of 
December, 1749. Col. Clinton did his work with the greatest 
care, and has recorded it in a field book of 384 pages, known to 
surveyors and conveyancers as the ''Marble Book."^ It is writ- 
ten in a very legible hand, gives most interesting details and in- 
cidents of this great survey, and shows, on every page, work of 
the most painstaking and intelligent kind. 

On pages 313 to 317 of this book, we find reference to Clinton's 
work in this particular region, which was performed between the 
23d and 29th days of April, 1745, and on page 316, in describing 
his course, he says : 

''At 40 Ch. crofses the road to Sterling Iron Works/' 

On pages 320-321, describing his work on April 30, 1745, he 
says that he ran : 

^ Patent bearing Queen Anne's seal now in the possession of The Sterling Iron 
& Ry. Co. 

^ AN ACT for the more effectual collection of His Majesty's quit rents in the 
Colony of New York, and for partition of lands in order thereto. New York 
Eevised Statutes, 1st Edn., Vol. Ill, Appendix, p. 11. 

* This, apparently, because the covers are of marbleized cardboard. 



24 

"516 Chains to a Black Oak tree, marked with three 
notches on ye N. E. and S. W. sides and two chips cut of the 
other two sides, standing about 3 Chains North west of a 
little Pond that is about 5 Ch. East of the great Pond at 
Sterling Iron Works." 

Any of you can go to the head of the Lake yonder and walking 
up the path for ''about 5 Chains," i. e., about 330 feet, you will 
find the little Pond, now known locally as Cricket Pond. A 
facsimile reproduction of page 321 is given here, as is also 
a facsimile of page 384, which shows the completion of the work 
and bears date the 13th day of December, 1749. Thereafter in the 
field books follows a carefully prepared index, and on the last 
page of all appears the oath subscribed by Charles Clinton, set- 
ting forth his survey and his allotment, which is sworn to by 
him, on the 20th day of April, 1764, according to the statute, be- 
fore Robert R. Livingston, Justice of the Supreme Court, who 
was also, as you know, first Chancellor of the State of New York 
and first Secretary of State of this Government. 

There are in addition several other references to the Sterling 
Iron Works in the Marble Book. 

There can, therefore, be no reasonable doubt that, as early 
as April 30, 1745, at least, there were iron works so named sit- 
uated here; and it is altogether probable that they had been 
there for some time previous thereto, because so carefully was 
Clinton's work done, that, if there had been anything new or 
recent about these works, it is almost certain that he would have 
referred to that fact. 

These works consisted of the furnace at this spot, in which the 
ore was smelted and made into pig iron, of a forge and anchory, 
which stood about a mile and a half down the Sterling stream, 
near the bend in the road where now stands the old Sterling 
school-house, and the Sterling works and forge, which stood still 
further down the stream by the pond known as Sterling Pond, 
where the ruins of the more recent Sterling furnace stand. 

Descriptions of what they consisted of and of the kinds and 



IfW^" 






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( IIARLES CLINTON'S FIELD-BOOK 
Page 384 



25 

amount of labor employed in them as they were in 1776 and 1777 
are found in petitions of the owners addressed to the Convention 
of New York, on the matter of the temporary exemption of their 
men from military service to which we have before referred.^ 
There are several of these petitions preserved in the Calendar of 
New York Historical Manuscripts ^ and they contain such in- 
formation. 

For instance, appended to one of these petitions, dated April 
12, 1777,3 we find the following: 

"A List of Men to Enable the Carrying on the Sterling Fur- 
''nace, Forge, Ancory and Steel Works is as follows, viz.: 



FOR THE FURNACE 

20 men. Wood cutters, 
4 Master Colers, Each 4 men— is 
3 Men for Raising Oar, 2 Men for Carting ditt 
7 Men Carters for Hauling Coles, 
2 Men for Stocking Coles, 1 Banks man, 
2 Men Burning Oar, 2 Mine Pounders, 
2 Fillers of furnace, 2 Founders, 
1 Gutter man, 1 Black smith, 1 Carpenter, 
1 Manager, 1 Clark, 



'68 men 



FOR FORGE AND ANCORY 



20 Men for Cutting Wood, 

3 Master Colers, Each 4 Men, 

5 Men Carters for Hauling Coles, 

2 Stocker of Coles, 
10 Men for makeing Iron in five fires, 
10 Men for makeing Anchors, three fires, 

1 Carpenter, 1 Blacksmith, 

1 Manager, 1 Clark, 

' Supra, p. 19. 

' Revolutionary Papers, Vol. I, pp. 446, 460, Vol. II, p. 69. 

' lUd., Vol. II, p. 70. 



65 men 



26 

FOB STEEL WORKS & FORGE 

15 Men for Cutting Wood, 

3 Master Colers, Each 4 men, 

4 Men Carters for Bringing the Coles, 
1 Stocker of Coles, 1 Man to Cart Pigs, 
6 Men for making Steel, in three fires, 
4 Men for makeing iron in two fires, 

1 Carpenter, 1 Black Smith, 
1 Man to manage the Bussiness. 



April 12th, 1777. 



49 men 



182 



This particular petition was granted by a formal resolution 
of the Convention adopted April 23rd, 1777, and in this resolu- 
tion the letter of Hughes commending the Sterling iron and steel, 
heretofore referred to, is recited.^ 

We should here perhaps say a few words as to how this proj)- 
erty first came by the name of Sterling.^ 
Eager, in his History of Orange County^ says: 

''We believe they [the Sterling Iron Works] were estab- 
lished by a London company, of which Lord Stirling of 
New Jersey was a member, and sold them the land and 
hence the name." 



That this was the source and origin of the name has been 
repeated by a number of historians and writers on the subject, 
but cannot be correct. We have seen that the Sterling Iron 
Works were in existence as early as 1745. The ''Lord Stirling" 
here referred to by Eager was at that time but 19 years of age. 
He could not, therefore, have ' ' sold them the land, ' ' and it is not 

* Journal N. Y. Prov. Cong., Vol. I, p. 900. 

'It is to be noted that wherever the name is found in the Marble Book, as 
in the Contract of February 2, 1778, and in the papers last cited, it is spelled 
Sterling, and not Stirling. 

= p. 566. 



27 

at all to be supposed that a great tract of property should be 
named after a lad of nineteen years, however gallant and dis- 
tinguished he was thereafter to become.^ 

For the true origin of the name, we must search still further 
back. 

The estate was first owned by Henry Townsend, commonly 
known as Henry IV, who was the father of that Peter Townsend 
who, as we have seen, manufactured the great chain. This 
Henry IV was born at Oyster Bay, Long Island, and moved to 
Orange County with his family about 1735. His father and 
ancestors had for at least three generations lived at Oyster Bay. 
His great grandfather, Henry Townsend, commonly known as 
Henry I, was living there as early as 1661. One of the most an- 
cient records of that town is of a grant of land to him dated the 
16th of September, 1661.^ 

At that time ownership or at least the overlordship, not only 
of Oyster Bay but of the whole of Long Island, was claimed by 
the Right Honorable Earl of Stirling, under a grant of King 
Charles I, made the 22nd day of April, 1636,^ and this Earl of 
Stirling was, through his agent in Boston, James Farret, clearly 
and in no uncertain tone continuously calling his rights to the 
minds and attention of the inhabitants of the Island. For in- 
stance, we find, that on the 28th day of July, 1641, an attempt 
having been made to form a settlement on the present site of 
the village of Oyster Bay by Capt. Edward Tomlyns, and his 
brother, Timothy Tomlyns, and a few other persons from the 
town of Lynn, without having first obtained the consent of this 

^William Alexander, generally stiled, through courtesy, "Lord Stirling," was 
born in the City of New York in 1726. He claimed to be the rightful heir of 
the title and estates of the Earldom of Stirling in Scotland, from which country 
his father came, though the British government refused to acknowledge the son's 
claim when he went to England to press it. He had a brilliant career in 
the Eevolutionary Army. He particularly distinguished himself in the Battles 
of Long Island, Germantown and Monmouth. He was warmly attached to Wash- 
ington, which feeling, it is believed, was returned. He died at Albany, New 
York, Jan. 15th, 1783. 

''Thompson's History of Long Island, 1st Edn., p. 323. 

' Ibid., p. 87. 



28 

agent of the Earl of Stirling, the latter immediately drew up 
and published a protest against them in the following terms : 

"Know all men by these presents, that whereas Edward 
Tomlyns and Timothy Tomlyns, together with one Housard 
Knowles and others, have lately entered and taken posses- 
sion of some part of the Long Island in New England, 
which was formerly granted by Letters Patent of our Sov- 
ereign Lord, King Charles, to the Right Hon. William Earl 
of Stirling and his heirs: I, James Farret, by virtue of a 
commission under the hand and seal of the said Earl to me 
made for the disposing and ordering of the said Island, do 
hereby protest and intimate, as well to the said Edward 
Tomlyns and others, the said intruders, as to all others 
whom it may concern, that neither they, nor any of them, 
nor any other person or persons, (not claiming by or from 
the said Earl,) have or shall have, or enjoy any lawful 
right, title, or possession of, in, or to the said Island, or any 
part thereof; but that the said Earl, his heirs and assigns, 
may and will at all times, when they please, implead or 
eject, either by course of law or lawful force, if need be, all 
the said intruders, their servants, tenants, or assigns; and 
may and will recover against them and every of them, all 
damages and costs in this behalf sustained, or any color 
of title, or pretence of right, by grant from the governor 
of New England, or any other notwithstanding. In testi- 
mony whereof I have made and published this protest and 
intimation before John Winthrop, one of the magistrates 
and council of the Massachusetts, in New England afore- 
said, and have desired that the same be recorded there, and 
in other jurisdictions in these parts, and have published 
and showed the same to the said Edward Tomlyns in pres- 
ence of the witnesses. Dated at Boston, the 28th of 7th 
month. An. Dom. 1641, in anno Regis Domini Nostri Caroli 
Anglise, decimo septimo. 

James Farret."^ 

This shows that the Lord of Stirling was claiming and en- 
forcing, if not ownership, at least the right and control of the 
character known to the English law, as manorial or baronial, 

• Winthrop 's History of Massachusetts, Thompson 's Long Island, ibid., p. 320. 



29 

and that he was making it known to all the people in no uncer- 
tain terms. This was while the Townsends were living and had 
for many years been living on his grant. This particular pro- 
test was dated but twenty years prior to the above mentioned 
grant to Henry Townsend I, and he and his family had been liv- 
ing in the immediate neighborhood for many years before. In 
the conception and the atmosphere of the old English law as to 
land tenures and as to the relations of tenants to the overlord, — 
a relation of respect and admiration oftentimes amounting to de- 
votion,^— it is entirely probable that this feeling toward this 
Earl of Stirling became impressed upon all the inhabitants of 
Long Island, including the Townsends ; and nothing could have 
been more natural than that, when one of the sons moved to a 
new country, to take up his home, he should have named his 
estate after the old manorial overlord. 

I am sure you all know how very rich in revolutionary history 
this region is. The road from Newburgh and West Point on 
the north, to Pompton and Morristown on the south, was many 
times traversed and retraversed by Washington and the Con- 
tinental army. Indeed, New York City and the lower Hudson 
being in control of the British, it was the best way by which 
Washington could pass from his headquarters at Newburgh and 
West Point to the battlefields of New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
and the more southern colonies. Fortunately, we have through 
contemporary manuscripts, many of them written by Washing- 
ton himself, almost daily memoranda of his location and doings 
upon each particular day.^ Many of these memoranda are made 
in our neighborhood and I have thought that it might not be 
inappropriate to set some of them out here. 

At Pompton Plains, Saturday, July 12th, 1777, General Wash- 
ington writes to the President of Congress : 

"We have been prevented marching to-day by the rain; 
but, as soon as the weather permits, we shall proceed as 

* Lewis ' Blackstone 's Commentaries, Vol. II, p. 90. 

= Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to Dee. 23, 1783, by- 
William S. Baker, 8vo., J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila., 1892. 



30 

expeditiously as we can towards the North Kiver and cross 
or not, as shall appear necessary from circumstances." 

From Pickering's Journal, at the same time, we have the 
following :^ 

''July 11th: The whole army marched from Morristown 
to Pompton Plains, about 17 miles." 

* ' July 12th : A rainy day. ' ' 

"July 13th: The same." 

"July 14th: Marched to Van Aulen's, a mile east of 
Pond Church." 

"July 15th: To Sovereign (Suffren's or Suffern's) 
Tavern near the entrance to Smith's Clove." 

On Sunday, July 13th, Washington writes from Pompton 
Plains to General Schuyler: 

' ' This is the second day I have been detained here by the 
badness of the weather. As soon as it will permit, I shall 
prosecute my march through the clove." 

On Tuesday, July 15th, from Suffern's Tavern, General Wash- 
ington writes to General Schuyler : 

"The evacuation of Ticonderoga and Mount Independ- 
ence is an Event of Chagrin and Surprise not apprehended 
nor within the compass of my reasoning. * * * * This 
stroke is severe indeed and has distressed me much." 

Again, from Suffern's Tavern, on Friday, July 18th, 1777, 
Washington writes to Schuyler : 

"Upon my requisition. General Arnold, waiving, for the 
present, all dispute about rank, left Philadelphia and ar- 
rived here last evening, and this day proceeds on his jour- 
ney to join you." 

And, on the next day, Saturday, July 19th, Washington writes 
to General Heath, again from Suffern's Tavern: 

^ Timothy Pickering was present with Washington at this time. 



31 

' ' General Howe still lays intirely [sic] quiet on board the 
fleet at Staten Island. Very few troops remain on shore and 
the destination a profound secret. Whatever were his in- 
tentions before this unlucl^ blow to the northward, he cer- 
tainly ought, in good policy, to endeavor to cooperate with 
General Burgoine [sic]. I am so fully of opinion that this 
will be his plan that I have advanced the army thus far to 
support our party at Peeks Kill, should the enemy move up 
the river." 

On Sunday, July 20th, 1777, Washington has moved on north- 
ward into the Ramapo Valley and to the place then known as 
Galloways, which is now the village of Southfield. On that Sun- 
day, we find the following note in Pickering's Journal: 

"Went from Suffern's Tavern into the clove, 11 miles. 
Headquarters at Galloway's, an old log house. The Gen- 
eral [Washington] lodged in a bed and his family on the 
floor about him. We had plenty of sepawn [corn meal 
mush] and milk, and all were contented."^ 

Washington remained at Galloway's, on this occasion, three 
or four days. On July 21st, he writes from there to General 
Putnam as follows: 

''The intelligence which occasioned us to advance from 
the entrance of the clove yesterday morning, I find to have 
been premature, and mean to remain here till I have your 
answer. ' ' ^ 

On Tuesday, July 22d, Washington writes from Galloway's 
to the President of Congress : 

''We have been under great embarrassments respecting 
the intended operations of General Howe, and still are, not- 

^ Here is an amusing instance of the habit of the day of calling a general's 
staff his family; for surely, such must have been the family which Pickering 
referred to as lying on the floor about the general. 

^ This movement into the clove was made under the supposition or premature 
intelligence that General Howe was about to push up the North Eiver to cooperate 
with General Burgoyne. 



32 

withstanding the utmost pains to obtain intelligence of 
the same. At present, it would appear that he is going out 
to sea. By authentic information, there are only 40 ships 
at New York, the rest are gone elsewhere and have fallen 
down between the Narrows and the Hook. Between these 
two places, the number, from the most accurate observa- 
tion, was about 120 yesterday."^ 

On Thursday, July 24tli, General Washington was back in 
New Jersey at the then village of Eamapo. From there, on that 
date, he writes to General Putnam: 

"I have just received advice of the enemy's fleet having 
sailed from the Hook: in consequence of which, I have to 
desire that you will immediately order General Sullivan and 
Lord Stirling's divisions to cross the river [the Hudson] 
and proceed towards Philadelphia."^ 

Two years afterwards, we find Washington again in the 
Valley. 

On Sunday, June 6th, 1779, he writes to the President of Con- 
gress from Ringwood, as follows : 

"On the 1st inst., in the morning, the enemy opened a 
battery at Stony Point, which lies on the west side of the 
Hudson at the landing at King's ferry, against a small de- 
tached work at Verplanck's Point on the east side, and kept 

^ The point from which Washington was enabled to see New York Bay and 
Harbor, and thus obtain the intelligence of which he writes, was near at hand. It 
was the top of the Torn mountain, near the present village of Eamapo. 

' The village of Eamapo, from which General Washington wrote this letter, 
was not the present village of Eamapo, but was a small settlement about five 
miles south of the present Suffern station on the Erie Eailway, and was nearly 
seven miles below the present village of Eamapo (see frontispiece), which was 
founded, in about 1785, by Mr. Jeremiah Pierson. Mr. Pierson was the inventor 
of the first machines by which nails were cut and screws were made, and the 
first cut nails and screws to be manufactured in the United States were made 
in his works at Eamapo. He owned large tracts of land there, much of which 
is still in the hands of his descendants, though some of it has been conveyed 
to the late Dr. Alfred L. Loomis and members of his family, Mr. Francis Lynde 
Stetson, and Mr. Augustus B. Field, of New York, and others, who have estab- 
lished country homes in the neighborhood. 



33 

up a constant fire upon it, in conjunction with their ships, 
till 4, in the afternoon, when the party stationed in it, find- 
ing that it was also invested on the land side in force, sur- 
rendered by capitulation." 

On Monday, the 7th, we find in Washington's Orderly Book, 
at Smith's Tavern in the clove, the following entry: 

"The army is to camp till further orders. "^ 

On Friday, June 11th, Washington writes from Smith's Tav- 
ern to the President of Congress : 

*'We have taken post for the present with the main body 
of the army in this clove, where we are as well situated as 
we could be anywhere else to succor the forts [on the Hud- 
son] in case the future operations of the enemy should be 
directed against them." 

At Smith's Tavern, Monday, July 14th, 1779, the Orderly 
Book contains the following entry: 

' ' As the commander-in-chief sits [sic'] out to-day for West 
Point and may be absent two or three days, Major-General 
Putnam will take the command of the troops in this camp 
till his return." 

Washington, on his return, remained in the clove until the 
afternoon of June 21st, when he set out for New Windsor. This 
march into the clove from New Jersey is described by Dr. 
Thatcher in his Military Journal, as follows : 

"June 10th, Smith's Clove [Orange County, New York] 
is a fine level plain of rich land, situated at the foot of the 
high mountains on the west side of Hudson River. It is 
about 14 miles in the rear of the garrison at West Point, and 
surrounded on all sides by the highlands. The few families 

^ Smith 'a Tavern was situated near the point on the road from Arden to Central 
Valley, a little south of Central Valley, where this road is met by the road from 
Turner's, about where the house known as the old Dickerman House now stands. 



34 

who reside here find a profitable employment in cultivating 
the fertile soil. Our brigade marched from quarters at 
Middlebrook on the 2nd inst., and arrived at Morristown, 
where we received orders to leave all our heavy baggage 
and proceed with all possible expedition, as the enemy was 
advancing towards West Point. Marched rapidly through 
Troy, Pompton and Eingwood and on the 7th inst. en- 
camped in the clove." 

Smith's Clove, then called, in its lower end, the Eamapo Clove, 
seems to have been, roughly speaking, the valley of the Eamapo 
Eiver from Suffern's to Newburgh Junction, and, from thence, 
the valley northward toward Newburgh by way of Central Val- 
ley, Highland Mills and Woodbury. There seem to have been 
three celebrated taverns in this clove, not counting the Suffern 
Tavern, which was a little south of the southerly end of the 
clove. They were Galloway's, at present Southfield, Smith's 
Tavern, the location of which has already been described,^ and 
another tavern known as June's, which is shown on several of 
the contemporary maps, and is frequently mentioned in the 
documents of the day, and which seems to have been situated at 
the point where the road from Arden to Central Valley is inter- 
sected, about a mile north of the Arden station, by the road run- 
ning westerly towards Turner's, on the land which was formerly 
known as the James Wilkes Farm, now owned by Mr. E. H. 
Harriman. 

This region then was, as it is now, in large measure composed 
of wild, rugged and wooded mountains. It afforded safe hiding 
for people of lawless or wayward dispositions, and there are 
many traditions of violent deeds committed in these mountains, 
by men who seem to have been treated virtually as outlaws. The 
most prominent of these seems to have been Claudius Smith, 
who, after a long career of depredation and even, it is alleged, of 
murder, was executed on the gallows at Goshen, January 22d, 
1779.2 

^ Supra, page 33, note. 

'^ Eager 's ' ' Orange County, ' ' p. 556. 



35 

Without a doubt, many of these traditions were exaggerated, 
and the few people then living in the country were probably not 
all as bad as they were painted, but that passage through the 
clove for unarmed people was not unattended with danger seems 
to admit of no doubt. This fact is illustrated by an anecdote 
locally told of General Washington. 

It was in the summer of 1781 that, once again, and for the last 
time, the Kamapo Clove became the temporary theatre of mil- 
itary operations. Washington had intended to make an attack 
in force upon New York, but the failure of the Comte de Grasse, 
Commander of the French fleet in the West Indies, to cooperate 
with the land forces, caused Washington to change this project 
and to march to the assistance of the Southern Colonies. Again, 
the march southward was taken up through the Ramapo Valley. 
Meanwhile, Washington caused deceptive letters to be written 
and put in the way of being intercepted, in order to deceive Sir 
Henry Clinton into the belief that an attack on New York City 
was the real object of the Americans. Lossing, in a note to his 
Field Book (Vol. II, p. 213), thus relates the incident: 

' ' One of the bearers of these letters was a young Baptist 
clergyman named Montagnie, an ardent Whig, who was 
directed by Washington to carry a despatch to Morristown. 
He directed the messenger to cross the river at King's ferry, 
proceed by Haverstraw to the Ramapo Clove and through 
the pass to Morristown. Montagnie, knowing the Ramapo 
pass to be in possession of the cowboys and other friends of 
the enemy, ventured to suggest to the commander in 
chief that the upper road would be safest. ' I shall be taken, ' 
he said, 4f I go through the clove.' ^Your duty, young 
man, is not to talk but to obey, ' replied Washington, sternly 
enforcing his words by a vigorous stamp of his foot. Mon- 
tagnie proceeded as directed, and near the Ramapo Pass 
was caught. A few days afterward, he was sent to New 
York, where he was confined in the Sugar House, one of the 
famous Provost prisons in the city. The day after his ar- 
rival, the contents of the despatches taken from him were 
published in Rivington's Gazette with great parade, for they 
indicated a plan of an attack upon the city. The enemy was 



36 

alarmed thereby and active preparations were put in motion 
for receiving the besiegers. Montagnie now perceived why 
he was so positively instructed to go through the Ramapo 
Pass, where himself and despatches were quite sure to be 
seized. When they appeared in Rivington's Gazette, the 
allied armies were far on their way to the Delaware. Mon- 
tagnie admired the wisdom of Washington, but disliked him- 
self to be the victim. Mr. Pierson, from whom I heard the 
narrative, received it from the lips of Montagnie himself." 

Perhaps the last time that Washington came through our 
Clove was in the spring of 1782, after the victory at Yorktown, 
when, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, he returned to his old 
headquarters at Newburgh. In the Washington Itinerary, under 
date of Thursday, March 28th, 1782, we find that 

''Washington left Morristown on the morning of March 
*'28th, reaching Newburgh on the 31st, stopping at Pomp- 
''ton and Ringwood on the way. He was accompanied by 
' ' Mrs. Washington, and an escort of an officer, sergeant and 
"12 dragoons." 

That Washington, amid all these scenes of strenuous and stir- 
ring war, was not unmindful of the importance of that educa- 
tion and learning which such an occasion as this contributes to 
cultivate and promote, is shown by two short letters, both of 
which, being written in this county, may, not inappropriately, be 
mentioned here. On Thursday, March 22nd, 1781, Washington 
writes from New Windsor to Mr. Jos. Willard: 

*'I am much indebted to you for announcing my election 
as a member of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences. I feel myself particularly honored by this rela- 
tion to a society whose efforts to promote useful knowledge 
will, I am persuaded, acquire them a high reputation in the 
literary world." 

And again, from New Windsor on May 15th of the same year, 
having been offered the degree of doctor of laws by Yale Col- 
lege, he writes to Dr. Stiles, the President of Yale, as follows: 



37 

"For the honor conferred on me by the President and 
fellows of the University of Yale College by the degree of 
doctor of laws, my warmest thanks are offered; and the 
polite manner in which you are pleased to request my ac- 
ceptance of this distinguished mark of their favor demands 
my grateful acknowledgments. ' ' 

We cannot leave the great Washington and his relations with 
this county of Orange without mentioning one other incident. 
It has been considered by many to be the greatest and noblest 
act that he ever performed. I refer to the incident known as 
''The Newburgh Letters." 

As you know, there had been much discontent among many 
of the officers and soldiers of the army with regard to the way 
in which they had been treated by the Continental Congress. 
It must be regretfully admitted that they were not without just 
ground for complaint. Their pay was largely in arrears, and 
they were about to return to their homes without means of sup- 
port. Some, smarting under this feeling of injustice, and some, 
perhaps, swayed by more unworthy motives, set on foot a 
movement looking to the establishment of a military oligarchy, 
or, at least, of a government under military control; and those 
interested went so far as to offer to Washington the head of 
such a proposed government with the title of king. A letter, 
manifestly pointing in this direction, was sent to him by one of 
the officers, and on May 22nd, 1782, at his headquarters at New- 
burgh, Washington replied to this proposal as follows : 

"With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I 
have read with attention the sentiments you have submitted 
to my perusal. Be assured, sir, no occurrence in the 
course of the war has given me more painful sensations 
than your information of there being such ideas existing 
in the army, as you have expressed, and I must view 
with abhorrence and reprehend with severity. I am 
much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could 
have given encouragement to an address, which to me 
seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my 



38 

country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, 
you could not have found a person to whom your schemes 
are more disagreeable. ' ' ^ 

Washington determined to quell this movement without seem- 
ing officially to oppose it. He therefore caused a meeting of the 
officers and soldiers to be called for the purpose of considering 
the question of their grievances. The meeting was held in a 
building called the Temple, near and just south of Snake Hill, 
in the town of New Windsor.^ The building was a large one. It 
had been specially built by "Washington as a place of worship 
for, and for general meetings of, the army while encamped in 
the region. The meeting was held in the evening, — it was past 
dark, and the room was lighted by lamps. As Washington rose 
to read his manuscript, he took out his glasses, and wiping them, 
said: ''You see, gentlemen, I have grown not only grey, but 
blind in your service."^ 

Then followed one of the most touching and stirring appeals 
ever addressed to men. I wish I could read it to you here entire, 
but space and time will not permit. Let me, however, read you 
the concluding words. He freely admitted that they had griev- 
ances which were hard to bear, but he pointed out that theirs was 
not the proper way of remedy, and, beseeching them to relin- 
quish their present purposes, concluded: 

''By thus determining, and thus acting, you will pursue 
the plain and direct road to the attainment of your wishes ; 
you will defeat the insidious designs of our enemies, who 
are compelled to resort from open force to secret artifice. 
You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled 
patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pres- 
sure of the most complicated sufferings; and you will, by 
the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity 
to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have 
exhibited to mankind— had this day been wanting, the world 

^ Washington 's Itinerary, supra, p. 262, 
' Eager 's ' ' Orange County, ' ' p. 135. 
^Lossing's "The Hudson," p. 199. 



39 

had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human 
nature is capable of attaining." 

Every heart was touched, and the movement of the would-be 
conspirators was quashed forever. 

Aaron Burr, also, as you know, was much in this region. 
It was on the Plains of Paramus, but a few miles south 
of us, that he courted and won the Widow Prevost. On 
one interesting occasion, Aaron Burr visited these iron 
works, in the beginning of June, 1779. At that time. Sir Henry 
Clinton, having captured the forts at Stony Point and Ver- 
planck's Point, was again threatening West Point. The com- 
munication through the Clove between General Washington, 
who was in New Jersey, and Major-general McDougall, who 
was in command at West Point, was much embarrassed. Ban- 
dits, it is said, had been placed by the British in the mountain 
passes for the purpose of capturing bearers of despatches. At 
this critical moment, Colonel Burr happened to be on a visit to 
General McDougall at West Point. Burr was at the time in ill- 
health, and on that account temporarily out of the service. In 
the course of the conversation, McDougall informed Burr of 
his difficulties in communicating with Washington, saying that 
he had made various unsuccessful attempts, his messengers 
either having been captured or having deserted; and he then 
asked Col. Burr whether, in view of the critical condition of 
affairs, the latter would not undertake to be the bearer of an 
oral communication to General Washington. Burr, notwith- 
standing his ill-health and that he was not then on that account 
in the service, readily assented. His way, of course, led through 
Smith's Clove and the Ramapo Clove, and he stopped over at 
Mr. Townsend's at Southfield. The next day he came on to this 
point, when an amusing incident occurred, which is thus de- 
scribed by his biographer :^ 

''Col. Burr arrived at the iron works of the elder Town- 
send in Orange County with a tired and worn-out horse. 

^ Davis' "Burr," Harper & Bro., 1836, Vol. I, p. 173. 



40 

No other could be obtained, but after some detention, a half 
broken mule, named Independence, was procured and the 
colonel mounted. But Independence refused to obey or- 
ders, and a battle ensued. The mule ran off with his rider 
and ascended a high bank on the side of which stood a coal 
house, which was filled with coal through an aperture in the 
top. At length, Independence, in the hope of clearing him- 
self of his incumbrance, entered the coal house [through 
this hole] at full speed, the colonel firmly keeping his seat, 
and both came down an inclined plane of coal not less than 
30 feet in height. On reaching the ground without injury. 
Burr hired a man to lead the animal a mile or two and then 
again mounted him and pursued his journey. This scene was 
exhibited on a hot day in the month of June, amid a cloud 
of coal dust. The anecdote, Burr occasionally repeated to 
his friends and some of the younger branches of the Town- 
send family." 

Two French officers, the Marquis Hector St. Jean de Creve- 
coeur and the Marquis Francois Jean de Chastellux, who pub- 
lished accounts of their travels in this country at the time, have 
made reference to our neighborhood. 

The Marquis de Crevecoeur, who was in the French service 
during the French and Indian Wars, and afterwards traveled 
extensively in this country, and continued here throughout the 
Revolutionary War, gives quite an extended account of the 
Sterling Iron Works on a visit which he made to this region in 
the year 1790.^ The work was published in Paris in 1801. It is in 
three volumes, and a copy of it may be found in the Library of 
the New York Historical Society. 

Describing a journey through the iron making regions of New 
York and New Jersey for the purpose of particularly examin- 
ing the methods there employed, the author gives a record of his 
travels in considerable detail. He visited, not only the Sterling 
Iron Works but those at Ringwood, Bellvale and other places. 
With regard to Sterling, he wrote as follows :^ 

^ Voyage dans La Haute Pensylvanie, et dans I'Etat de New York, par un 
Membre adoptif de la Nation Oneida. 
- Ibid., Vol. I, p. 282. 



41 

*'A peine avions-nous mis nos clievaiix a I'ecurie, que le 
proprietaire, M. Townsend, vint au-devant de nous, et nous 
regut avec la politesse d'un liomme accoutoume a voir sou- 
vent des etrangers et des voyageurs. En effet, son hospi- 
talite est si bien connue depuis long-temps, que, soit qu'on 
vienne de I'interieur ou de New- York, on s 'arrange toujours 
de maniere a loger chez lui, en passant les montagnes. 
Ayant appris que le motif de notre voyage etait d 'examiner 
avec attention ses differens ouvrages, il offrit de nous en 
montrer les details. 

''D'abord, il nous conduisit a sa grande fournaise ou le 
mineral etoit fondu et ensuite converti en saumons de 60 a 
100 livres pesant. Elle etoit situee a pen de distance de la 
principale digue qui, par la position favorable des rochers, 
lui avait procure a peu de frais une retenue d'eau tres-con- 
siderable. D'un simple ruisseau, il avait fait un petit lac 
de quinze mille acres de surface, rempli de poisson, et sur 
lequel il avait un joli bateau. Cette fournaise etoit animee 
par deux immenses soufflets de quarante-huit pieds sur sept, 
qui n'etoient faits que de bois sans fer, ni cuir. La violence, 
le bruit du vent qu'ils produisaient, ressemblait a celui d'une 
tempete. 

" 'Cette fournaise,' nous dit-il, 'produit annuellement, 
quand il ne lui arrive point d 'accident, de deux mille a deux 
mille quatre cents tonneaux de fer, dont les trois quarts sont 
convertis en barres, et le reste fondu en boulets, canons, etc., 
a 1 'usage du commerce. Ces montagnes dont les coupes me 
procurent le charbon, fournissent aussi plusieurs especes 
de mineral, d'une excellente qualite, connu sous des noms 
differens. ' 

'^ De-la nous fumes voir la raffinerie; six gros marteaux 
etoient occupes a forger des barres de fer et des ancres, 
ainsi que plusieurs pieces a 1 'usage des vaisseaux. Plus bas, 
sur le meme ruisseau, etoit la fonderie avec son four a re- 
verbere. II nous fit observer plusieurs machines ingenieu- 
ses, destinees a differens usages, dont on lui avait envoye 
les modeles, qu'il avait fondus avec un potin nouvellement 
decouvert dans ces montagnes, dont le grain, apres deux 
fusions, acquiert la finesse et presque la couleur de I'etain. 

" ' Je puis en f aire, ' nous dit-il, ' les clioses les plus delicates 
et les plus legeres. Quel dommage que vous ne soyez pas 
venus ici buit ou dix jours plutot! je vous aurais fair voir. 



42 

(1) trois nouvelles especes de charrues, dont j'ai fondu les 
principales pieces, et qui cependant ne sont pas plus pe- 
santes que les anciennes. Chacune d'elles est pourvue d'une 
espece de romaine graduee, au moyen de laquelle on peut 
voir avec la derniere precision a combien se monte la puis- 
sance d'attelage, et consequemment la resistance, c'est-a- 
dire, la tenacite du sol; (2) un moulin portatif, destine a 
detacher le grain de la menue paille. Cette invention n'est 
que la suite d'une autre, au moyen de laquelle tons les epis 
d'un champ pourront etre facilement enleves, sans qu'on 
soit oblige de le couper par le pied pour en faire des gerbes, 
suivant I'ancien usage. Tout cela est parti pour le Mont- 
Vernon (1) ; car,' continua-t-il, 'quoique le general Washing- 
ton remplisse avec des talens aussi distingues la presidence 
de 1 'Union, a laquelle il a ete appele par la voix unanime de 
1 'affection et de la reconnoissance, et que le siege du Gou- 
vernement soit a cent lieues de sa belle terre, il surveille 
son immense culture, et en dirige les operations avec un des- 
cernement et une attention digues d'eloges. Toutes les se- 
maines il en regoit les details, comme un negociant, le compte 
courant de ses affaires. A I'aide d'une tres-grande carte 
qu'il m'a fait voir, il connoit tons ses champs, sait ce qu'ils 
ont rapporte, et prejuge ce qu'on doit y semer. Jamais on 
n'a pousse plus loin I'ordre, la methode et I'economie du 
temps. C'etait la meme chose durant la guerre. Le Con- 
gres et le public ne furent pas peu etonnes, lorsqu'apres 
etre rentre dans la classe des citoyens, il rendit au premier 
les comptes de son commandement, parmi lesquels on trouva 
celui de la depense particuliere des services secrets pendant 
sept ans, entierement ecrit de sa main, et qui ne se montoit 
qu'a douze ou quatorze mille guinees. Pendant ce long in- 
tervalle, ainsi que depuis qu'il est devenu chef du Gouverne- 
ment general, cet illustre Agricola n'a jamais cesse d'etre 
un des cultivateurs les plus eclaires des fitats-Unis. Avant 
la revolution, il avait quarante charrues, et en 1772 il re- 
colta pres de dix mille boisseaux de bled.' " 

*'De la fournaise nous allames voir les fours dans lesquels 
le fer etait converti en acier. — *I1 n'est pas encore aussi bon 
que celui de Suede,' nous dit M. Townsend, 'mais nous en 
approchons. Encore quelques annees d 'experience, et nous 
parviendrons a la perfection. Le fer qui sort de dessous 
mes marteaux, jouit depuis long-temps d'une bonne reputa- 



43 

tion et se vend de 28 a 30 pounds le tonneau de 2,200 livres 
pesant. 

" 'Voyez-vous,' continua-t-il, 'ce bel et vaste herbage, en- 
yironne par les deux branches de la riviere? c'est ce que 
j'appelle le chef-d'oeuvre de mon industrie; 11 n'y a pas 
encore dix ans que ce bas-fond etait le cloaque de ces mon- 
tagnes. J'essayai de le faire def richer a la hache; mais les 
haliers et les broussailles dont il etoit convert, ne presentant 
aucune resistance, cet instrument devint inutile. Je ne sa- 
vois comment m'y prendre, lorsque Pidee me vint d'y mettre 
trois cents chevres, et de les y retenir jusqu'aux approches 
de I'hiver. Pressees par le besoin, elles firent mourir les 
buissons les plus vivaces ; en les depouillant de leur ecorce. 

'* 'L'ete suivante, un embrasement general fit tout dispa- 
roitre ; j 'ensemeuQai mon terrein en trefle et en timtchy [sic] 
et I'annee d'apres, cet amas impenetrable de ronces et d'e- 
pines fut remplace, a ma grande joie, par une abondante re- 
colte de foin. Cette ile est devenue, depuis, une des meil- 
leures prairies du canton. Plusieurs cultivateurs ont suivi 
mon exemple.' " 

''Apres avoir passe deux jours a examiner ces construc- 
tions si diverses, a admirer I'art avec lequel on avoit com- 
bine le mouvement des eaux, ainsi que I'ordre et 1 'arrange- 
ment des coupes de bois, necessaires a la fourniture du 
charbon qu'exige une entreprise aussi considerable, nous 
quittames M. Townsend."^ 

* Hardly had we put our horses in the stable, when the proprietor, Mr. Town- 
send, came out to meet us, and received us with the polish of a man of the 
world, accustomed often to meet strangers and travelers. In fact, his hospitality 
has been for a long time so well known that, whether one comes from the interior 
or from New York [City], one always makes one's plans so as to pass the 
night with him in going over the mountains. Having been informed that the 
object of our journey was to examine with attention his different works, he of- 
fered to show them to us in detail. 

First he conducted us to his large furnace, where the ore is smelted and con- 
verted into pigs, weighing from 60 to 100 lbs. This furnace was situated at a 
short distance from a dam, which, through the favorable conformation of the 
ground, had given him, at little cost, quite a considerable water storage. From 
a mere brook, he had made a little lake of 15,000 acres of surface, filled with 
fish, and on which he had a pretty boat. [This size for Sterling Lake is a mistake, 
but clearly unintentional since he uses the word "little." The area of the lake is 
actually only about 310 acres.] This furnace was blown by two immense bellows 
of 48 feet by 7 feet, which were made entirely of wood, without any iron or 



44 

leather. The rush and the noise of the wind which they produced resembled a 
tempest. 

"This furnace," said Mr. Townsend, "produces annually, barring accidents, 
from 2000 to 2400 tons of iron, of which three-quarters are converted into bar 
iron and the balance cast into bullets, cannons, etc., for the market. These 
mountains, the forests of which furnish me with charcoal, furnish also several 
characters of ore of excellent quality, and known under different names." 

From there we went to see the forge. Six large hammers were busy forging 
bars of iron and anchors, as also several parts used in the building of ships. 
Further down still, on the same stream, was a foundry — with its reverberatory 
furnace. He showed us ingenious machines intended for different uses, of which 
the models had been sent him, and which he had cast with iron from an ore re- 
cently discovered in the mountains, which after two fusions acquired the fineness 
and almost the color of tin. "I can make out of it," he told us, "the lightest 
and most delicate articles. What a pity," he said, "that you did not come 
here eight or ten days earlier. I would then have shown you (1) three new kinds 
of plow, of which I cast the principal parts, and which are, nevertheless, no 
heavier than the old type. Each one of them is equipped with a sort of gradu- 
ated scale, by which is registered with great precision the power of the team, 
and consequently the resistance, that is to say, the tenacity of the soil, (2) a 
portable mill, designed to separate the grain from the chaff. This invention 
follows upon another, by means of which all the ears in a field can be easily 
gathered without the necessity of cutting the stalks at the foot, according to 
the old method. All these things have been shipped to Mt. Vernon, for," con- 
tinued he, "although General Washington is filling with such distinguished 
talents the presidency of the Union, to which he has been called by the unanimous 
voice of affection and gratitude, and although the seat of government is about 
300 miles from his fine plantation, he watches over its cultivation, and directs 
the operations thereof, with an admirable discernment and attention. Every 
week he receives detailed reports just as a merchant would of the transaction 
of his affairs. By the aid of a very large map, which he showed me, he keeps 
in mind all his fields and knows what they have produced, and can therefore con- 
clude beforehand what ought to be planted in each. Nowhere have order, method 
and economy of time been pushed further. It was the same thing during the 
war. The Congress and the public were not a little astonished when, after hav- 
ing retired to private life, he rendered to the former the accounts of his expendi- 
tures while in the service, among which, particularly, were the expenses of the 
secret service during seven years, written entirely in his own hand, and which 
did not amount to as much as 12,000 to 14,000 guineas. During this long period, 
as well as since he has become the chief executive of the government, this 
illustrious Agricola has never ceased to be one of the most enlightened farmers 
of the United States. Before the revolution, he had 40 plows, and in 1772 he 
gathered nearly 10,000 bushels of wheat. ' ' 

From the forge we went to see the furnaces in which the iron was con- 
verted into steel. "It is not yet as good as the Swedish steel," said Mr. Town- 
send, "but we are approaching it. With a few more years of experience, 
we will arrive at perfection. The iron which comes from under my hammers 



45 

The Marquis of Chastellux, in his Travels in North America/ 
describes a journey through this region in 1780. He was not, like 
Crevecoeur, particularly interested in the mines and manufac- 
tures, and devotes himself more to the inspection of the scenery 
and of the general condition of the people. One night, it being, as 
he says, very dark, and having, not without difficulty, passed two 
or three streams on very small bridges, he arrived at Court- 
Heath Tavern near Pomptom. He was interested to find that 
the daughters of the landlord had considerable claims to educa- 
tion and accomplishment. He remarked that they read Addison 
and other English classics, and the evening seems to have passed 
pleasantly for him. On the next morning, he continues his 
journey, which he describes as follows : 

'' Je quittai a huit heures du matin mon hote et mes jeunes 
hotesses pour m'enf oncer dans les bois en suivant un 
chemin que personne ne connoissoit trop bien. Le pays par 
lequel je devois passer s'appele le Clove; il est tres sauvage 
et n'est gueres connu que depuis la guerre; c'est une espece 
de vallee ou de gorge situee a I'ouest des grandes mon- 
tagnes qui regnent entre New Windsor et Kings-ferry et au 

has for a long time had a good reputation and sells for 28 to 30 pounds per ton 
of 2200 lbs." "Do you see," continued he, "that fine and large meadow sur- 
rounded by two branches of the stream? That is what I call the chef d'oeuvre 
of my works. Less than 10 years ago, that bottom was merely a drain of these 
mountains. I tried to clear it with axes, but the thickets and brush by which 
it was covered, presenting no resistance to the axe, this instrument proved 
useless. I was at a loss what to do, when the idea occurred to me to put out 
300 goats and keep them there until winter set in. Driven by hunger they 
killed the most vigorous bushes by peeling off their bark. The following summer 
a fire caused everything to disappear. I planted the soil with clover and timothy; 
and, the year after, this impenetrable mass of brambles and briars was, to my 
great joy, replaced by an abundant harvest of hay. That island has since be- 
come one of the best pastures in the vicinity. Several farmers have followed 
my example." After having passed two days in examining these various works 
and in admiring the skill with which the water powers had been utilized, as 
well as the method and arrangement of the wood-cutting necessary to the pro- 
duction of the charcoal, which so considerable an enterprise demands, we parted 
from Mr. Townsend. " 

^Voyage de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans I'Amerique Septentrionale, dans 
les annees 1780-1781-1782. Deux tomes, Paris, 1786. Vol. I, p. 284. 



46 

pied desquelles se trouvent West-pointe, Stoney-pointe, 
ainsi que la plupart des forts qui defendent la riviere. 
Dans les terns [sic] on elle n'est pas navigable, soit a cause 
des glaces, soit a cause des vents contraires, on a besoin 
d'une communication par terre, entre I'etat de New York et 
les Jerseys, entre New Windsor & Morristown. Or cette 
communication traverse le Clove et le General Green, etant 
Quartier-maitre-general, y fit ouvrir un chemin par lequel 
passent les convois des vivres et de I'artillerie. C'est ce 
chemin que je pris, laissant sur ma droite le chemin de 
Romopog et remontant celui qui vient de Ringwood. Ring- 
wood n'est proprement qu'un hameau de sept ou huit mai- 
sons, forme par le manoir de Madame Erskine et les forges 
qu'elle fait valoir. On m'avait prevenu que je trouverois 
la touts sortes de ressources, soit pour loger si je voulois 
m'y arreter, soit pour me procurer toutes les indications, 
dont j 'aurois besoin. Comme il etoit de bonne heure et que 
je n 'a vols fait encore que douze milles, je ne descendis cliez 
Mme. Erskine que pour la prier de m'indiquer une auberge 
ou je pourrois coucher, ou de me donner des recommanda- 
tions pour trouver I'hospitalite quelque part. J'entrai dans 
une tres jolie maison, ou je trouvai tout le monde en deuil, M. 
Erskine etant mort deux mois auparavant. Mme. Erskine, sa 
veuve, agee de quarante ans a peu pres, n'avoit pas Pair 
moins frais & moins tranquille: elle avoit chez elle un de 
ses neveux & M. John Felle, membre du Congres. On me 
donna tons les renseignemens dont j'avois besoin & apres 
avoir bu un verre du vin Madere, suivant I'usage du pays 
qui ne permet pas qu'on sorte d'une maison sans y avoir bu 
un coup, je remontai a cheval & m'enfoncai de nouveau 
dans les bois, montant and descendant des montagnes tres 
elevees, jusqu'a ce que je me trouvasse pres d'un lac telle- 
ment solitaire & cache qu'on ne I'appergoit qu'a travers 
les arbres qui 1 'environnent. Les cotes qui en forment les 
rives sont si escarpees que, si un chevreuil faisoit un faux 
pas au haut de la montagne, il rouleroit jusque dans le lac 
sans pouvoir se relever. Ce lac, qui n'est pas marque dans 
les cartes, se nomme Duck Sider : il a pres de trois milles de 
long sur un ou deux milles de large. Je me trouvois dans le 
pays le plus sauvage et le plus desert que j'eusse encore 
parcouru; mon imagination jouissoit deja de cette solitude 
& mes yeux cherchoient a travers les bois quelques animaux 



47 

extraordinaires : tels que des elans ou des caribous, lorsque 
j'appergus dans un eclairci un quadrupede qui me parut 
tres grand. Je tressailois de joie et j'approehois douce- 
ment; mais en fixant mieux le monstre du desert, je vis a 
mon grand regret que c'etoit un triste cheval, qui broutoit 
I'lierbe paisiblement, et que 1 'eclairci qui m'avoit laisse le 
distinguer, n'etoit autre chose qu'un enclos appartenant a un 
nouveau defricliement. Je lis encore quelques pas et je ren- 
contrai deux enfans de huit ou dix ans qui revenoient tran- 
quillement de 1 'ecole, portant sous leurs bras un petit panier 
et un gros livre. Ainsi il me fallut declieoir de toutes mes 
idees de poete ou de chasseur pour admirer ces nouvelles 
contrees ou I'on^ne sauroit faire quatre milles sans trouver 
une habitation, ni trouver une habitation qui ne soit pas a 
portee de tons les secours possibles, tant dans I'ordre phy- 
sique que dans I'ordre moral. Ces reflexions & le beau tems 
[sic] qu'il fit toute I'apres-midi me rendirent la fin de ma 
journee tres agreable. A 1 'entree de la nuit, j 'arrival a la 
maison de M. Smith, qui tenoit auberge autrefois mais qui ne 
loge plus que ses amis. Comme je n'avois pas I'honneur 
d'etre de ce nombre, je fus oblige d'aller un pen plus loin, a 
Hern Tavern; c'est une assez mauvaise auberge, mais j 'eus 
a souper & a coucher. J 'en partis le 19 le plutot qu'il me fut 
possible, parce que j'avois encore douze milles a faire pour 
arriver a New Windsor, & que ne devant y coucher qu'une 
nuit je voulois du moins passer la plus grande partie de la 
journee avec le general Washington. Je le rencontrai a 
deux milles de New Windsor, il etoit dans sa voiture avec 
Mme, Washington, & ils alloient faire une visite a Mme. 
Knox, dont le quartier etoit a un mille plus loin, pres des 
barracques de I'artillerie."^ 

^At eight o'clock in the morning, I left my host and my young hostesses to 
bury myself in the woods, following a road which no one seemed to know any 
too well. The country through which I was about to pass is known as the 
Clove. It is very wild and was hardly known before the war. It is a kind 
of valley or gorge, situated on the west of the large mountains which interpose 
between New Windsor and Kings-ferry, and at the foot of which are West 
Point and Stony Point, as also most of the forts which defend the river. At 
times when the river is not navigable, either on account of ice or contrary 
winds, it is necessary to have communication between New York and the Jerseys 
between New Windsor and Morristown by land. Now, this communication 
is through the Clove, and General Greene, who was quartermaster-general, 
opened a road through it, over which pass the convoys of stores and artillery. 



48 

There have been but few changes in the ownership of the 
Sterling tract from the earliest times. In 1783, a portion of it, 

It is this road that I took, leaving on my right hand the Romopog [sic] road, 
and following the one which comes from Ringwood. Ringwood, strictly, is but 
a hamlet of 7 or 8 houses, forming the manor of Mrs. Erskine and the forges 
which she operates. I had been forewarned that I would there find all manner 
of resources, either to put up there, if I should desire to stop, or to obtain all 
the necessary directions of which I might be in need. As it was still early, 
and I had as yet gone only 12 miles, I alighted at Mrs. Erskine 's, only to beg 
her to direct me to an inn where I might pass the night, or to give me recom- 
mendations as to where I could find hospitality. I entered a very pretty house, 
where I found everyone in mourning, Mr. Erskine having died two months pre- 
viously.* Mrs. Erskine, his widow, about 40 years of age, looked none the less 
fair and calm. She had with her one of her nephews, and Mr. John Fell, a 
member of Congress. They gave me all the directions I needed, and after having 
taken a glass of Madeira, according to the custom of the country, which forbids 
one to leave a house without having quaffed a glass, I remounted my horse and 
plunged anew into the woods, ascending and descending very high mountains 
until I found myself near a lake, so solitary and hidden that it can be seen 
only through the trees which thickly surround it. The rocks which form its 
shores are so steep that, if a deer should make a misstep high on the mountain, 
he would roll down into the lake without being able to stop himself. This lake, 
which is not set down on the maps, is called Duck Sider. It is almost 3 miles 
long by one or two miles wide. [The Marquis must have been feeling the Madeira. 
Tuxedo Lake has a superficial area of 300 acres. It is only a mile and three- 
quarters long and not more than about half a mile wide. Again, not only was 
it "set down on the maps," but it was set down upon several maps, most care- 
fully made, by the very Col. Erskine whose home he had just left. (See frontis- 
piece.) Also it is difficult to find the very high mountains (montagnes tres 
elevees) which the marquis speaks of "ascending and descending" on his way 
from Ringwood to Tuxedo Lake.] I found myself in the wildest and most 
desert country that I had yet traversed. My imagination was already rejoicing 
in this solitude and my eyes were seeking through the woods for extraordinary 
animals, such as elks or caribous, when I perceived in a glade a quadruped, 
which seemed to me very large. I thrilled with joy and softly approached, 
but on better inspecting this monster of the desert, I recognized, to my great 
regret, that it was but a sad horse who was peaceably cropping the grass, and 
that the vista which had enabled me to see him was nothing else than an en- 
closure belonging to a new clearing. I went on a few more steps, when I met 
two children of eight or ten years, who were returning quietly from school, and 
carrying under their arms a little basket and a large book. Thus, I found 
myself compelled to lay aside all my poetic and sportsmanlike notions to admire 
this new country, where one cannot go four miles without finding a home, nor 
find a home which is not supplied with all possible advantages, both physical 
and mental. These thoughts and the beautiful weather which continued all the 
* Col. Erskine died October 2, 1780. 



49 

about 6,000 acres, known as the Augusta tract, was purchased 
from the then Peter Townsend (he who made the chain) by his 
cousin, Solomon Townsend, who also became his son-in-law by 
marrying his eldest daughter, Anne.^ 

This property was the same as that now known as Tuxedo 
Park. Solomon Townsend at once established iron works on it. 
He constructed saw works on the Ramapo River, near the pres- 
ent north gate of Tuxedo Park, where the outlet of Tuxedo 
Lake joins the Ramapo. And about two miles further down this 
river and immediately north of the Erie Railway station at 
Tuxedo, and almost immediately below and opposite the great 
boulder known as "Man-of-War Rock," he established other 
works for the making of bar iron and anchors, which were 
known as the Augusta forge. The ruins of this forge may yet be 

afternoon, made the end of my journey very agreeable. At night fall, I came 
to the house of Mr. Smith, who formerly kept an inn but who now takes in 
only his friends. As I had not the honor to be of that number, I was obliged 
to go a little further on to Hern's Tavern. It is a pretty bad hotel, but I had 
supper and a place to sleep. I left there on the 19th, just as soon as it was 
possible, for I had yet 12 miles to make to arrive at New Windsor, and as I 
did not expect to spend but one night there, I desired at least to spend the 
greater part of the day there with General Washington. I met him two miles 
from New Windsor. He was in his carriage with Mrs. Washington, and they 
were going to pay a visit to Mrs. Knox, whose quarters were about a mile 
further on near the artillery barracks. 

[The tavern which the Marquis calls Hern's was doubtless Earl's, about three- 
quarters of a mile north of Smith's Tavern, where the stream now crosses 
the highway, and where there is a large house with large pine trees around it.] 

^ Captain Solomon Townsend was born at Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1746. 
He early developed a taste for the sea, and in his twentieth year was made 
captain of a brig belonging to his father. In 1778, being in France, and desirous 
of returning home, he obtained the following certificate from Benjamin Franklin, 
then our minister at the French capital: 

"Passy, near Paris, June 27, 1778. 
"I certify to whom it may concern, that Captain Solomon Townsend, of New 
York, mariner, hath this day appeared voluntarily before me, and taken the oath of 
allegiance to the United States of America, according to the resolution of con- 
gress, thereby acknowledging himself a subject of the United States. 

"B. Franklin." 

It was after returning home under this passport that he came to Orange 

County and married his cousin. He was a man of fine ability and the iron 

business he conducted was large and important. (Thompson's History of Long 
Island, 2nd Edn., Vol. II, p. 350.) 



50 

seen just below the falls in the Eamapo River at the point de- 
scribed. Capt. Townsend continued the operation of these works 
until the time of his death, March 7, 1811.^ 

In November, 1813, his widow and administratrix sold the en- 
tire Augusta tract to Mr. Peter Lorillard of New York, the 
grandfather of the present head of the Lorillard family.^ The 
property has since continued in their hands, and through their 
fine courage and wise business ability, has been transformed 
into the now splendid and renowned Tuxedo Park, of whose 
beauties and charms we are all so proud. 

The balance of the property thereafter continued in the own- 
ership of the first, second and third Peter Townsends, with cer- 
tain interests in other members of the family, until April 1st, 
1864, when the present owner, the corporation known as the 
Sterling Iron and Railway Company, was organized. There- 
upon, through Mr. David Crawford, Jr., a son-in-law of Mr. 
Peter Townsend, 3rd, the entire property was transferred to 
that corporation.^ Mr. Townsend retained a large interest in 
the property, other large interests being acquired by such well- 
known and distinguished men as Mr. Thos. A. Scott, renowned 
as President of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, and as 
Assistant Secretary of War during the Civil War, Mr. Jay 
Cooke and Mr. Joel Barlow Morehead, of Philadelphia, and Mr. 
Samuel L, M. Barlow and Mr. George C. Clark of New York City. 
Thereafter the ownership continued substantially undisturbed 
until within the last year when control of the property has been 
acquired by Mr. Theodore H. Price, the present worthy president 
of the Sterling Iron and Railway Company, from whom we have 
had the great pleasure of hearing to-day. 

We give Mr. Price, and his charming family, a hearty wel- 
come among us as a neighbor. He comes of a family of the Old 

' Eager 's * ' Orange County, ' ' p. 567. 

^ Deed dated Nov. 17, 1813, recorded in 1815 in Orange County Eecords, liber E, 
p. 54. 

' David Crawford, Jr., to the Sterling Iron & Eailway Co., deed dated April 1st, 
1864, and recorded in Orange County records of deeds, April 12, 1864, in lib. 
178, p. 196. 



51 

Dominion, as old as any of those, to whom reference has been 
made, of the sister colony of New York. He is the seventh in 
lineal descent from William Randolph of Turkey Island, Va., of 
whom Thomas Jefferson, John Randolph of Roanoke, and Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee were also Hneal descendants. Thomas Price, 
owner of the celebrated ''Coolwater Estate" in Virginia, and 
the great grandfather of Mr. Theodore H. Price, was a member 
of the Revolutionary Army during the whole war from Lord 
Dunmore's gunpowder plot to the surrender of Cornwallis, and 
so did he bravely contribute to the glorious result to which this 
furnace made its silent contribution. 

In 1804 the building of the Southfield furnace was begun. 
It made its first blast in 1806, just one hundred years ago, and 
liad its last blast in 1887. In 1810, at Southfield, Peter Town- 
send, 2nd, made the first ''blister steel" manufactured in the 
United States,^ and the manufacture of iron and steel was thence- 
forth continued by the second and third ^ Peter Townsend, at 
Southfield, in conjunction with their works here. 

^Swank's "Iron in All Ages," 2nd Edition, p. 138. 

^ Peter Townsend, father of Mrs. S. L. M. Barlow, Mrs. Thomas Francis Meagher, 
and Mrs. David Crawford, Jr., died on the 26th day of Sept., 1885, at his resi- 
dence, 32 East Twenty-third Street, in his 83rd year. He was bom on Maj' 
13th, 1803, in Orange Co., on the Sterling tract, which has been owned 
by the Townsend family for more than one hundred and fifty years. The 
Sterling Iron tract in Orange and Eockland Counties, and running down into 
New Jersey, was originally named after Lord Sterling, a General in the Eevo- 
lution, and who was financially interested in it. [This is an error. See supra, p. 
26.] It embraced a territory of nearly 50,000 acres. Until Iron Mountain, Mo., 
was discovered, this was the largest known iron deposit, and is even now known 
as one of the largest in the world. It was from this property that iron was first 
sent to England from America, and English iron masters in the days of Queen 
Anne complained so bitterly of American competition that Parliament passed a 
law protecting English iron. 

It was Mr. Townsend 's grandfather who forged at the Sterling Iron Works 
the great chain which was stretched across the Hudson Eiver near West Point, 
in the Revolution, to prevent the British ships from passing up the river to 
Albany. This chain weighed over an hundred tons, and was conveyed to its 
destination in parts, which were later attached by swivels. At these Works also 
was cast the first of a number of large cannon for the use of the Navy of the 
United States, to be placed on a series of frigates built by Congress. Also the 
first anchors cast in this country and used by the United States Government 



52 

The new Sterling furnace, so-called, was built in 1848, about 
two miles down the stream, just below the pond known as Ster- 
ling Dam. It had its last blast in 1891, and was the last furnace in 
operation in all this valley, where a century ago the manufac- 
ture of iron had been so vigorously pursued. 

The change in the times since those good old days when the 
proprietor stood more in the nature of a friend and father to the 
employe than, unhappily, he usually does now, finds an illustra- 
tion in the following verses, which were sent to Mr. Town- 
send in 1829 by the author, John Brooks, who was at that time 
the clerk and storekeeper at the Sterling works : ^ 

on the "Constitution," the "Constellation," and the "Congress," and later on 
all the ships of war. 

Three brothers named Townsend came from England prior to 1630 and settled 
in Oyster Bay. The family was originally connected with that of the Marquis 
of Townsend, of Eaynham Hall. One of the brothers [This is an error. See supra, 
p. 27], soon after their arrival in this country, went to Orange Co., and from that 
time the family occupied the Sterling tract. 

The first Peter Townsend married Hannah Hawxhurst, of Sterling, and died 
in 1783. His son Peter was born in 1770, and when a lad rode to New York 
on horseback to witness the evacuation of that city by the British. He suc- 
ceeded his father in manufacturing iron, and may be regarded as the pioneer 
in the introduction of anthracite coal as a fuel for smelting iron. The second 
Peter Townsend married Alice Cornell, <early in this century. The third Peter 
Townsend, the subject of this sketch, married Caroline, daughter of Capt. Jasper 
Parish, of Canandaigua. 

Mr. Townsend was all his life connected with Iron Works. He went abroad 
but once. He visited England to examine the great Iron Works as a preliminary 
to erecting large furnaces and rolling mills in Pennsylvania. He built large 
Works at Brady's Bend, Pa., and there, on completion of the Works, took the 
tongs and pulled from the rollers the first bar of railroad iron rolled in America. 

Mr. Townsend had a striking figure. He was tall and powerful and weighed 
over 240 pounds. He measured fifty-four inches around the chest. For ten 
years he had been practically out of active business. Most of the summer he 
spent at his residence in Southfield, Orange County, and went to New York 
two or three times a week. He was a member of the Suffolk Club of Long 
Island. In winter he lived in New York. Mr. Townsend was at his oflSce the 
week previous to his death, and was ill only a few days. His funeral in New 
York was conducted by Eev. John Hall, of whose church he was a member. 
His remains were taken to Southfield for interment, where he was followed to 
his grave by his old retainers, who had been years in his employ. The tears 
flowing down their furrowed faces gave evidence of the truth of what they them- 
selves said, that they "had lost their best friend." New York Sun, Sept. 27, 1885. 

* Mr. John Brooks, the author of these verses, was born in 1784 in the village 



53 

"Mr. Peter Townsend, SoutMeld: 

I send you by our lazy brawny 
Chuckle-head of a Montawney, 
Eighty-four bars, well-wrought and sound, 
Two tons, one hundred and fourteen pound. 
Send us some Indian and some flour 
Immediately, if in your power. 
Send us some shoes, we 're out of leather ; 
We can't go barefoot this cold weather. 

of Monroe, this county. He was a strong and highly respected man. In 1819 
he was made Justice of the Peace by Governor DeWitt Clinton. In 1829, as 
we have seen, he was employed as clerk and storekeeper in the Sterling Iron 
Works. He represented Orange County in the Assembly in 1845. He died Nov. 17, 
1871. He had two sons. The elder. Major Thos. Benton Brooks, was in many 
respects a remarkable man. He was born in Monroe, June 19, 1836, Largely 
by dint of his own efforts, he succeeded in taking an engineering course at Union 
College, being graduated there as civil engineer in 1858 with highest honors. 
Immediately after leaving college, he made surveys of the Sterling tract; of the 
Augusta tract, now Tuxedo Park; of the Greenwood tract, formerly the property 
of the late Mr. Peter P. Parrott and now belonging to Mr. E. H. Harriman; of 
the Eamapo tract, now belonging to the Messrs. Pierson, and of several other 
bodies of land in the immediate vicinity. These surveys and the maps accom- 
panying them have always been esteemed very remarkable pieces of work, espe- 
cially for so young a man. The map of the Sterling tract is based upon the 
previous surveys and maps of Charles Clinton, hereinbefore referred to, of David 
Pye and of Tallcott, and is full of interesting data. Major Brooks later took a 
very leading part in the development of the great Lake Superior iron ore deposits. 
He died a few years since respected and honored by all. His field notes 
and maps, gathered through a long life of professional activity, have been 
inherited by his long-time friend and assistant, Mr. Frederick J. Knight, C. E., 
of Monroe. Major Brooks seems to have possessed as much capacity for 
military as for civil affairs. He enlisted immediately after the Battle of 
Bull Eun and served throughout the Civil War with great distinction, be- 
ing several times promoted for gallant conduct on the field. In describing 
the siege of Fort Wagner, Charleston, near the close of the war, of which 
siege General Michie of West Point said that Major Brooks was "unques- 
tionably the central engineer, ' ' Nicolay and Hay * say, * ' At every advance 
he [General Gillmore] planted breaching batteries against Fort Sumter; this 
part of the work being under the charge of Major T. B. Brooks, a volunteer 
officer, one of the most notable instances, of which there were so many, of 
extraordinary military capacity suddenly developed in young men whose train- 
ing had hitherto been exclusively in civil pursuits." 

* "Abraham Lincoln," by Nicolay & Hay, Vol. VII, p. 433. 



54 

Billy Babcock wants a pair : 
Also his wife, 't is twelves both wear. 
Some of our dames do scold and pout, 
Because our tea does not hold out- 
Three and a half pounds allowed per week 
Seems not enough for all who seek, 
And I 'm so dumb I 've not yet found 
The art of making from three pound 
Just sixteen quarters. Must I bequest 
The first that come, just like the rest? 
Or will you send a little more! 
Three and three fourths and sometimes four? 
Send me the news, for I want to know 
How Adams and Old Hickory go. 
Some of us will want some money 
For training^ therefore I '11 just dun ye. 
Two shillings each will pay stage fare, 
And as much more support us there ; 
But send as much as you can spare. 
The coaling jobs go on right well, 
But on the forge there lays a spell, 
And where 't will end no one can tell, 
Tho' now she thumps away like Sheol. 

Now when you and your better half 
Are reading this, 't will make you laugh. 
'T is childish verse, wrote with pot-hooks 
And trammels. I am. 

Yours, 

John Brooks '* 

The annual meeting of the Militia for Military Drill. 



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